An Evening with the Multifaceted Lito Arkangel
By Le‘a Gleason
Before we begin, let’s get one thing straight: Lito Arkangel is kolohe. He’s not just the literal English translation of the word, “rascal.” There is something much deeper to the spirit of this 40-year-old trickster-turned-musician/teacher. He’s much more pono (positive) than pilau (rotten). And it’s in speaking and studying Hawaiian words just like these that Lito has embodied his spirit, his unique self, his passion for teaching others, and his passion for sharing those teachings through song. So no, Lito Arkangel is not just kolohe.
That said, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that sitting in the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel’s Wai‘oli Lounge on a crowded Thursday night—overlooking the gentle waves that lap at Moku Ola (aka Coconut Island) and roll slowly into Hilo Bay—Lito has a lot of stories to tell about his less formidable past.
Nowadays, he plays here every Thursday, and when the sun sinks below the horizon and it’s just dark enough, the overhead lights go out and are replaced by purple-blue stage lights that make this feel like an old-fashioned lounge or seventies dance club. When the crowd warms up, then the stories come out, and Lito waits carefully until they’re ready to really listen, gauging his impromptu set-list—which varies between traditional Hawaiian music, contemporary, country, and more—by who walks in the door and whether they seem engaged.
To say that Lito was a kolohe child is really an understatement, as if there is any one word that can define a person with such a diverse past. He comes from the old plantation town of Ola‘a (now known as Kea‘au), where his family experienced the economic hardships that many did when Puna Sugar Plantation finally closed in the mid-eighties. They later moved to Keaukaha, and to escape the stress of this hardship, he tried what all the other kids were doing—staying out late and experimenting with some mischief life had to offer. He picked up the ‘ukulele at an early age, and never thought much of it.
“When I was 16, I was 21 already. Those trials allowed me to grow and get wise. I wasn’t just rascal, I was very intelligent, so I would never make the same mistake twice. I would find new mistakes to make. I developed this wisdom that could only have been attained by…having that character. Anyone with potential has potential to do the greatest good or the greatest evil,” he wisely explains.
It was his time in the Navy that later lead him to channel his kolohe energy into something much more keen, and to eventually choose the path of “greatest good,” or to be pono. Today, although that same sharp-witted spirit fuels him, it is honed in a much more controlled way. Lito is akamai (smart).
Joining the Navy—an impromptu decision—was a life changing period for Lito.
“Before the Navy I never really tasted the outside world—it was the first big decision I ever made—so the first year was major withdrawals. Eventually, I grew out of it, and I got the highest rank you could get in five years. I said I just wanted to be on shore duty, but they said ‘we need you on the ship’ because my evaluations were too good. So I got out, and I saw Hawai‘i in a totally different way,” he says.
Soon after, when he had his first son, Lito realized it was time to do what he needed to do, not just what he wanted to do. So he began focusing on playing private parties and gigs as background music, and not headlining the party scene. It was time to get serious.
Over the next 10 years, he became an educator, husband, father of three, full-time musician, and sports team coach. He committed to educating at the University of Hawai‘i, where he lectures in Hawaiian Studies and Kinesiology, and is continuing to work on a degree in Hawaiian Language
At the top of this pyramid of support he’s built will always sit his music. He calls it a pyramid because underneath his music lies a strong foundation of family, hard work, a commitment to education, and culture. So all the years of struggle and never giving up and doing it with heart regardless if it’s a room of five people or 500, at least it’s a paid practice he says. Even though he’s a teacher by day, he focuses on educating people through the art of song, no matter what the payback.
“I realized that that’s what I do—I engage people. Whether it is from the entertainment or the educational perspective, I’m still doing both. It’s like brother and sister; their mother is the art of engagement, but their father is passion. If you’re not passionate about it, you can’t master the art of engagement,” he says.
Sitting here in the Wai‘oli lounge, we can’t exchange more than a couple of sentences without someone coming up to Lito to say ‘aloha,’ shake hands, and talk story. He’s already a master of engagement. And he uses those skills to tell his listeners about Hawaiian culture.
“I’m so passionate about [sharing Hawaiian culture through music] because it’s a great way to not only perpetuate the culture…but there are so many songs that are so deep and have so much more meaning, morals and analogies that you can relate to,” he says.
Lito is focused on being the best musician he can be, and leading by example. When he plays a song, be it original or a cover, he strives to play it the best that he can, every time.
“If I’m gonna do a cover song I have to do it and learn it out of respect for the original composer. After I play it…a million times, then I have to play it some more. After you’re sick of it, is only when your style starts coming out. All these struggles helped me find myself,” he says. “It’s like striving for perfection, knowing that you’ll never ever reach it. To practice and learn every song, because there is a song for every moment. If it hits your heart, you learn it and apply it and it’ll hit their heart too.”
By striving to do his best, he can then show others how to reach their own potential.
“In some subliminal indirect way, they’re gonna get it, sooner or later, because you focused on your potential. I’ve done it, time and time again. Guys come up to me that never could care less for Hawaiian music, saying, ‘after you sang that song, I look at people differently.’ You can’t lecture anybody. You’ll waste your voice. Instead, you show them through music. So the music is my spear tip. All my experience and my ability to tell stories that get you to see things in different perspective is the shaft of the spear,” he says.
After 10 years of performing, Lito just recorded his first album last year and is working on his second. The first CD, Me Ke Aloha, pays homage to Hawaiian culture by spanning over 200 years of classic Hawaiian music. It featured 12 songs written by legendary artists such as Edith Kanaka‘ole, Robert Cazimero, and Queen Lili‘uokalani herself. The second will be a selection of artfully rendered covers of modern songs, each with a distinct feeling that “this is Lito Arkangel.” That’s all he wants people to think when they hear his songs on the radio.
“Not too many people have the power to entertain people with music. It’s a power and a responsibility. Along with that come all the doors of temptation,” says this hardworking dad and husband, continuing, “children don’t listen to what you tell them, they follow what you do. I want to show [my children] how to succeed. I want to teach them to attain their goal no matter what it is, but foremost to find themselves. I introduce them to everything so that they can in turn find themselves, whether they like it or not, just that they’re introduced to it.”
Lito says that it’s only through maintaining his humility that he can keep his busy life balanced. His wife Rayna and the support of his ‘ohana (family) help him to see that his actions have way more influence than his words. To succeed, he has consciously walked past the doors of temptation naturally open to professional entertainers.
In his spare time, he listens to silence now. If anything, he’ll occasionally listen to instrumental jazz, Tibetan gongs, or Thelonious Monk.
He says, “If I sing one song and it changes your life, that’s awesome. That’s just one small example of what music can do. Don’t be scared, try. How will you know if you don’t try?”
He excuses himself to begin his set in the now-packed restaurant.
“When I go on stage, you will see me change,” he says.
The auntys are here, so he’s going to start with some traditional Hawaiian songs. As some members of the younger generation slip in and order drinks, he scans the crowd and settles on some covers of songs by James Taylor and The Beatles.
Halfway through his set, he stops, scans the crowd intently, and decides they’re ready. He’s going to play another Hawaiian song now, and he’s going to tell a story about the song first, a story about the history and culture behind the tale he’s about to sing. It’s Lito Arkangel’s time to engage and educate, and that’s his job.
Lito Arkangel plays Thursdays at the Wai‘oli Lounge at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel 6–8:30pm and Tuesdays at Nāpua at the Mauna Lani Beach Club 5:30–8:30pm. ❖
Wai‘oli Lounge and iCafe
Nāpua
Contact Lito Arkangel
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