Artist Bio

(Bio as of June 2022)

Lanialoha Lee (Native Hawaiian) is so honored to have walked the paths of his forefathers, mentors, and most importantly, his grandmother, for a lifetime. His inspiration to create surfaces in his sleep state, treated with great care and recognized for its purposes; preparing him to discover, create and grow new choreography and compositions of great artistic value. Elevating the delivery of cultural traditions to audiences from combined arenas of world stage performing arts venues, theater stage performances and cultural art centers, he enters new paths uniting new visions with soundscapes. After completing his academic music studies, he pursued studies with master teachers of other Pacific Island cultural arts with an emphasis on repertoire. He toured as a performing artist in the same venues in which these master teachers performed, earning their respect and a place as their student. His continuing work as a professional performing artist in forms of music and dance encompasses chanting, vocal work, instrumentation characteristic to both Western and Pacific Island cultural arts and production. Throughout his career, he’s taught thousands of `ukulele, hula and Tahitian drum students, enhancing his curriculum and cultivating a new generation of artists with a refined sensitivity to the culture bridging the Midwest to the islands through shared repertoire. As a Midwest-based Native Hawaiian, he continues to preserve, perpetuate and protect Pacific Island cultural arts and is hopeful that an appreciation will develop and augment the cultural literacy of those less familiar with the mesmerizing rhythms of music, dance and poetic text of the south Pacific Islands.