Listen to Paula Fuga and help Lahaina rebuild

The award-winning singer and songwriter Paula Fuga started writing songs as a kid, making up lyrics with a friend under a tree, she told Aloha State Daily. Since then, music has taken her to the stages of Madison Square Garden, Forecourt at the Sydney Opera House, and The White House, according to her bio on Spotify.

In just a few weeks, Fuga will be performing as a headliner at the Maui Music & Food Experience, a benefit concert to support Hua Momona Foundation’s mission to combat food insecurity, accelerate the Lahaina rebuild after the wildfires and cultivate the music scene for youth on Maui.

The musical line-up for the two-day event on Maui includes Fuga, as well as Mongoose led by Bernard Fowler of the Rolling Stones, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk with special guest Ernie Isley of the Isley Brothers, Kanekoa, Marty Dread, Tavana, Wayne Baker Brooks, Frank Orrall and Ledward Kaapana, among others. It takes place at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa on Aug. 15 and 16. Get tickets.

The first Maui Music & Food Experience, held last year, raised $250,000 for survivors of the Lahiaina wildfires and featured Billy Cox, Mick Fleetwood, Ernie Isley, Daryl Jones, Charlie Sexton, Ivan Julian, Ron Artis, Wayne & Ronnie Baker Brooks and Isaiah Sharkey, among others.

Among Fuga’s favorite songs to perform is “No Place like Home,” she said.

“It's a song about Hawaiʻi and living here on the Islands, and just the beauty of the nature here. It's just really my favorite song, and it's probably one of the hardest songs that I play, because there's so many different chords and changes, and things like that,” she said. “It was written by my best friend Mike Love, and he's this musical genius. He wrote it while he was on a camping trip with his family here on Oʻahu. And he had this song for a little while before he showed it to me and asked if I wanted to sing it, and I was like: ʻOh my God, yes! I would love to.’ ... It's such a fun and cool song, and I loved it so much.”

It’s one she plans to share with audiences at the Maui Music & Food Experience, but the rest of the musical line-up is a surprise, she said.

“This is my first time being a part of it,” Fuga said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

Some of Fuga’s most popular songs on Spotify at the moment include “If Ever” with Jack Johnson and Ben Harper, which has 29.1 million streams on Spotify; “Better Together” with Johnson, which has 9.6 million streams; and “Cry Cry Cry” with Ziggy Marley (oldest son of reggae legend Bob Marley) and Johnson, which has about 7.7 million streams.

Her voice is also part of the soundtrack for “Chief of War,” the television mini-series written and executive produced by Jason Momoa and Thomas Pa‘a Sibbett, which launched Aug. 1 on Apple TV+ and tells the story of Kaʻiana, played by Momoa, as he tries to unify the Islands before Western colonization in the late 18th century. Fuga joins Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole (great grandchild of Edith Kanaka‘ole) in singing “Kū Mai Ka Manō,” and Kanakaʻole, Kimié Miner & Starr Kalahiki in singing “Stand with Maui.”

Recently, Fuga also conceptualized the idea for the short film, “Kūkini,” which was inspired by a lesson she received as a student at Waimānalo Elementary and Intermediate School on the messengers who could “run so fast that they can go from one side of the island, catch their aliʻi’s favorite fish and bring it back” with the fish’s heart still beating, she said.

Maui Music & Food Experience showcases not just music but the culinary arts, led by Hua Momona Farm Chef Zach Laidlaw, a finalist on Gordon Ramsay’s show “Next Level Chef.” Joining Laidlaw this year is Gabrielle Chappel, the winner of “Next Level Chef” Season 3, and World Rice Champion Chef Ryan Von Smith, as well as Charles Andres of Wailea Beach Resort.

Tickets start at $79 for general admission. Details. Follow Fuga on Instagram, YouTube, or Spotify.

Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.