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LEON & MALIA Award-winning composers, recording artists, performers and producers, Leon Siu and Malia Elliott comprise the versatile, creative team, Leon & Malia — a unique musical bridge between Hawai‘i and the rest of the world.
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COMPOSERS Leon & Malia’s compositions range from film scores to commercial jingles, to symphonic works, to children’s songs, to vintage and current Hawaiian music, to contemporary pop and exotic world-beats. Leon & Malia’s writing credits include Boy With Goldfish, the benchmark symphonic cantata, recorded with the prestigious London Symphony Orchestra; The Voyage of the Hokule’a; the dynamic soundtrack for the award winning National Geographic documentary; Keiki Calabash, the best-selling, sing-along children’s video; and a variety of other innovative works. |
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PERFORMERS Through their performances, Leon & Malia have shared the Aloha Spirit world wide — from college pubs to elegant showrooms; symphony halls to sports stadiums; mega-pop festivals to the ballrooms of ships at sea. No matter what the venue, Leon & Malia’s performances are always engaging, uplifting, breathtakingly beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable. Whether performing the vintage songs of Hawaii, pop hits or their own compositions, Leon & Malia make every song a memorable experience. |
CHILDREN'S MUSIC Leon & Malia are Hawaii’s leaders in children’s music. Every year, they perform to tens of thousands of school children throughout Hawaii. Leon & Malia’s Keiki Calabash concerts, videos, CDs, activity books and other children’s products, delight and inspire the children of Hawaii to explore the natural and cultural magic of their unique island home. Check out their children's website at: www.HawaiiKids.net |
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CLASSIC WAIKIKI Leon & Malia have a special love for the classic Hawaiian songs that are famous all over the world. They perfom regularly in Wakiki and other visitor venues in Hawaii. They also record some of the most beautiful music in these islands, from Hawaiian classics to originals. Their recent CD, Boat Days/Tropic Nights is a lei of songs that evoke the romance and memories of Hawaii … island sunrises, flower leis and ocean liners arriving at Aloha Tower … tropical days of sun and surf … enchanting nights of sunsets and love. It is Aloha at its best. |
PRODUCERS Although Leon & Malia are known to the public as performers and composers they are also very active in media production, involving many projects year-round. Through their companies, Leon & Malia Productions and Haku Mele Hawaii, they produce a wide variety of CDs, videos and DVDs for a number of clients. See Leon & Malia NewsNotes at: |
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LEON & MALIA A NARRATIVE Award-winning composers, recording artists, performers and producers, Leon Siu and Malia Elliott comprise the versatile, creative team, Leon & Malia — a unique musical bridge between Hawaii and the rest of the world. Leon Siu and Malia Elliott have collaborated in writing and performing a wide variety of music. The decade of the 70’s found them shuttling between Hawaii, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Their debut recording, Leon & Malia was recorded in Los Angeles in 1970; followed by Blend, in 1972, Haku Mele in 1976. In 1977 they wrote the soundtrack to the National Geographic documentary film, The Voyage of the Hokule‘a that won the Drama Critics Award. In 1979, they wrote and recorded three distinctive ground-breaking albums: Heartland, chronicling their journeys across America and home again, Mokulana, a delightful story-book album for Hawaii's children, and Boy With Goldfish, a dynamic symphonic cantata recorded in England with the famed London Symphony Orchestra. Besides being the first composers from Hawaii ever to record with a world-class symphony orchestra, Leon & Malia’s Boy With Goldfish project also was one ofthe first to utilize the highly experimental digital recording technology. Since 1979, Leon & Malia have been the dominant presence in children’s music in Hawaii. The songs from their hit Keiki Calabash sing-along video are sung in every elementary school in Hawaii and in many schools around the world. Leon & Malia can be seen every Saturday and Sunday morning on PBS Hawaii, with their Calabash Corner TV spots. Leon & Malia recently released a new children's sing-along video (DVD) called Hawaii Kids Calabash. Like the original Keiki Calabash, it features hundreds of children in Hawaii's great outdoors, singing wonderful songs about the amazing treasures of Hawaii! In January 2008 they will launch a new TV series on community access stations throughout Hawaii called Leon & Malia's Keiki Corner. Tutu TV, with helpful hints for grandparents who provide day care for their grandchildren. They have produced numerous children’s recordings including Mokulana, Ho’olako Hawaii, Lullaby Moon, Kamalani Children’s Chorus, Tutu and Me, Wee Play and Learn, and their newest — Hawaii Kids Praise! Every year Leon & Malia perform to tens of thousands of children in schools, festivals and celebrations throughout the islands. Biographical Profile of Leon & Malia Leon was reared on the island of Hawaii and has a background in the visual arts — particularly in painting — as well as music. Malia was reared on the island of Oahu and her background is rooted in stage and theatre arts. They met in Hilo (on the island of Hawaii) while both were still college students. Two years later, after she had completed theatrical contracts in California, Malia teamed up with Leon singing late-nights in a little cellar club in Waikiki. Within months they were invited to San Francisco to play at the famous Purple Onion which had been the launching pad for The Smothers Brothers, Phyllis Diller, Jim Nabors, Pat Paulsen, and many others. During their many engagements at the Purple Onion (shuttling back and forth to Hawaii) they also played numerous colleges and concert venues in the Bay Area and Hawaii. Soon after they started at the Purple Onion, Leon & Malia were offered a recording contract and flew to Los Angeles to do their first album. Returning to Hawaii to promote their new recording, they became the first headlining act of their genre (Folk/Hawaiian) to penetrate mainstream Waikiki. The next few years was a steady stream of concerts, nightclubs, ship cruises, recordings and traveling. In 1975 the Honolulu Symphony began performing excerpts from a symphonic cantata, Boy With Goldfish written by Leon & Malia and co-composer Jerre Tanner. This eventually grew to a full performance in 1977 of the 67-minute work by the Honolulu Symphony at the Honolulu International Center Concert Hall. Two years later, the work was recorded by the world renown, London Symphony Orchestra in the then highly experimental digital recording format. Released as an "analog" disc in 1980, it was hailed as an artistic and a technical triumph and helped spark the blaze for today's digital revolution. The mid-seventies also found Leon & Malia in the midst of the Hawaiian cultural revival, from the rebirth of hula kahiko (the ancient style), to development disputes, to Hawaiian land claims and the stirrings of sovereignty, to the awe-inspiring voyaging canoe Hokule'a. Leon & Malia were priviledged to be chosen by National Geographic to write the score (soundtrack) for the 90-minute television special, The Voyage of the Hokule'a. Released in 1977, it won the Drama Critics Award for Best Documentary Film. Even more than awakening a sense of legacy and pride in Hawaii, Hokule'a quickened the spirit of unity, excitement and optimism throughout Polynesia and Oceania. In 1979, Leon & Malia wrote and produced their landmark children's storybook/record, "Mokulana" impacting an entire generation of Hawaii's children. "Mokulana" and another project called "Ho'olako Hawaii" (1987) were the prototypes for the current "Keiki Calabash" line of Leon & Malia's media products for children. They have written and recorded dozens of wonderful songs enjoyed by children in Hawaii and all over the world. Along with their music, they have created videos, books, and produced numerous media projects for other people and organizations working with children. Click here to visit their children's website.
(to be continued) |