HONOLULU STAR ADVERTISER:
Group wants Postal Service to honor singer Alfred Apaka
June 26, 2016
An effort to get the U.S. Postal Service to commemorate legendary Hawaiian entertainer Alfred Apaka's birth centennial with a stamp has the visitor industry's seal of approval, but it needs more support.
A group, led by Apaka's son Jeff Apaka and other members of Hawaii's visitor and entertainment industry, is seeking to get the stamp issued on March 19, 2019, which would have been Alfred Apaka's 100th birthday.
Known as the "Golden Voice of Hawaii," Apaka perfected a hapa-haole style of music, which weaved Polynesian themes into pop tunes with English lyrics.
Apaka's talent and his exotic good looks made him an irresistible star. He was of Chinese, Portuguese and Hawaiian ancestry.
"I remember my mother watching him on TV. He had those big melting eyes, and when you heard him you just wanted a mai tai. Nobody croons like that guy," said Sandra Bonura, a researcher and Hawaiian-history author.
That charisma and talent is why Kaiser made him entertainment manager of the Hawaiian Village and watched gleefully as he filled up the property's mammoth geodesic dome.
"Mr. Kaiser was a fantastic marketer, and he wanted to give customers the full Hawaiian experience with grass shacks and fantastic entertainment," Gallagher said. "When he (Apaka) died it caused a panic. They went through almost every Hawaiian entertainer possible looking for someone that was as good as Alfred Apaka. There was nobody like him. He wasn't just a Hawaiian singer; he could reach nations."
But Bonura said there was more to Apaka than glam. His great-aunt Lydia Aholo was the hanai daughter of Queen Liliuokalani, another great Hawaiian musician, she said. Aholo, who studied music at Oberlin College, shared her knowledge with Apaka.
"There's a tape where Lydia Aholo talked about her life with the queen. In it she says that nobody sings the queen's compositions the way that they are supposed to be sung but her Alfred Apaka," Bonura said. "Even today, when I'm giving a history lecture and I play his music, tears run down the faces of the older people. He strikes a chord. Let's not forget him."
According to the guidelines, the U.S. Postal Service looks for a balance of stamp topics, including timely, relevant and contemporary subjects that reflect the nation's diverse population. While supporters say Apaka fits the bill, they are aware that it's going to take widespread support to move the effort forward.
"I want to commemorate my father's great voice," Jeff Apaka said. "The USPS Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee wants a bundle of support letters now."
Time is of the essence since the stamp committee likes to see submissions sent about three years ahead of the proposed date of issue, he said.
