The Love Story of Harp and Soul: Manuel and Bernice Roberto

By Gayle “Kaleilehua” Greco

The strum of the harp mixed melodically with the sound of the flute leaves an echo lingering in the air. It weaves with the breeze, playing on heartstrings, as if one is sitting in heaven.

Lost in the moment, you realize heaven really is on earth in the presence of the remarkable musicians, Bernice and Manuel Roberto of Kailua-Kona. This was the scene in the Roberto’s beautiful home, as they played their instruments and spoke of each other as their mutual inspiration. Bernice is an accomplished harpist, pianist, and singer; along with her other talents of playing the synthesizer and co-composing songs with Manuel, her husband. Manuel is an established poet, composer, flautist, and devoted Interfaith Minister. Manuel lovingly says his third job (along with working as a financial consultant) is a “harp mover” for Bernice.

Imagine the time: 1970. The place: University of Madrid, Spain. The characters: a handsome Spanish boy and a brown-eyed, beautiful girl from Guam. A classic boy-meets-girl tale of how they met, fell in love, and moved to Berkeley, California where they studied music, film, the arts, and opened a Vedic Cultural Center for music—all in the height of the flower power days of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Divinely devoted to one another for 40 years, Bernice and Manuel have traveled extensively to finally call Hawai‘i Island home. Manuel reflects, “We were a young couple in love with a life purpose. They call it ‘destiny.’”

Manuel discovered the flute with his good friend and experimental musician, Richard Marriott, as they played music for several friends and at parties in Berkeley. Manuel, usually on the tabla drums, picked up a sakuhachi (Japanese) flute and began to play. Richard was surprised at Manuel’s ease, as this specific flute is one of the hardest instruments to learn. Manuel felt very connected to the flute and soon met G.S. Sachdev, a Bansuri (bamboo flute) master and one of the most well known North Indian classical flautists, who also happened to be in Berkeley. Richard made Manuel a flute, G.S. Sachdev became his teacher, and this began Manuel’s passionate and innate expression of flute playing.

Manuel has an extensive collection of instruments that he has acquired from world travels. As Manuel describes, each instrument has a story of its own mana or energy, a living spirit that is devoted to sound healing, which Manuel merges with his own breath to create the musical resonance.

Manuel comments on how he was always interested in the root or origin of music, from growing up with a father and grandfather who were poets, to himself taking on that craft as a child and adult. As he learned the scales of North Indian classical music, he found that most music is based on this musical scale.

In a moment between words, Manuel picks up one of his cherished flutes, the Bansuri, and the air fills as he harmoniously plays a melody of seamless musical styles from flamenco to Indian, to Celtic, with a hint of blues as an ending repertoire. As if on a magic carpet ride, one is transported around the world through the brilliant effect of Manuel’s flute playing.

In 1985, Manuel and Bernice opened an East Indian music school, the Vedic Cultural Center, in Berkeley during a time when the likes of Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, Zakir Hussain, and many well-known musicians came to the San Francisco Bay Area to share their music. The music school served as a home for aspiring musicians and artists to grow their talents at a time when cross-cultural lines were being merged. This was a time of great creativity and deepening of the Roberto’s musical experiences, a foundation that would carry them to the east coast to raise their children. They have fond memories of traveling with the Whole Life Expo as the conference musicians.

Bernice, a classically trained musician, has been on a musical and spiritual path since she was a child in Europe. Bernice played piano from a young age and began studying harp with Francis Duffy of the Pittsburgh Orchestra. Her vocal work blended beautifully with the instruments and added to her inherent spiritual gifts. Bernice reflects on her 28 years of playing the harp and recites from Ireland’s 15th century national composer, “To be a true harper, one must be able to make people laugh with your music, cry with your music, and dream with your music.” Bernice, with a sweet twinkle in her eye, says “we added to that quote, to transcend people with your music.”

Bernice shares, “In studying the harp and having cross cultural experiences, it has helped me to understand the essence of music. It is not a proprietorship of one culture, it’s a reflection of consciousness.”

Having an international look, and speaking several languages, it was possible for Bernice to fit in to any cultural situation, especially with music, which is as universal as air.

As Bernice prepares to play her harp, she reflects that music is a blend of cultures and traditions, the stories of elder to young. She comments on how it is exciting to see where the next generations take the music. A strum of the harp and she speaks, “We are Spirit-Soul eternal,” and in a moment, the resonance of her harp is joined by Manuel on a Bansuri flute. Heaven’s gates reopen.

Bernice recalls that she was always a hesitant performer, however. Through the years, Manuel has encouraged her to take a more prominent role with her musical gifts. Bernice now teaches harp, voice, keyboards, and harmonium. She performs with different musical groups: the Magic Strings, a group made up of members from the Waimea Philharmonic, where she plays the violin, viola, cello, and harp; and Kona Harp Ensemble, where she provides a polyphony of multiple harps.

Moving to Kailua-Kona in 2000, Manuel and Bernice have built their community around the music, spiritual events, and volunteer work in the community. Manuel has served as President of the Rotary Club of Kona and as a member of the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce. Bernice serves as founder of Hawai‘i Heavenly Weddings, a wedding services company that performs ceremonies at the Four Seasons Hualalai, Fairmont Orchid, Waikoloa Hilton and Hapuna Prince hotels. In addition to weddings and engagement receptions, Bernice provides a number of musical offerings for conferences, corporate events, vow renewals, theatres, and private home events.

Sharing their talents in the local community, Manuel and Bernice play with JP Thoma in Blue Indigo, a world music group featuring a unique blend of Indian, Hawaiian, Celtic, and Japanese music. And with another ensemble, Zen Moon Rising, a dynamic group that offers meditative, elegant, and distinguished soundscapes of harp, flute, and gongs. The Roberto’s have recorded CDs including Lover of the Soul, Journey to the Self, Echoes of the Moon, Eternal Flame, and soon will be recording another series of CDs.

On any given day on Hawai‘i Island, you can hear a rich blend of music with the ever popular ‘ukulele and slack key guitar, to the Polynesian drums and flutes sustaining the traditional meles of Hawaiian composers, all rhythmically setting us to a common heartbeat. In Kailua-Kona, another marriage is heard, with a strum of a chord, angelic in its tone, combined with a light, wafting whistle in the air, and one realizes the healing power of sound culturally integrates us at a deeper level. This is the gift that the Roberto’s give each other each day and share with the community. Bernice comments about their life in Hawai‘i, so similar to her remembrance of Guam, “We are blessed to be here in a place that is accommodating and simple.” ❖

---

Photos by Gayle Greco and courtesy of the Roberto’s

Contact Manuel and Bernice Roberto: HawaiiHeavenlyWeddings.com

Contact writer Gayle Greco: gayle.greco@gmail.com