For The Maui News
Amy Hanaialiâi is celebrating the 2020 holiday season with a new song, âChristmas Brings Hope.â Hanaialiâi and other Maui artists are hoping to lift peopleâs spirits during the pandemic.
With Christmas approaching during this challenging time, three Maui artists felt inspired to spread a little holiday cheer, releasing either new compositions or updated classics.
Recording the Hoku Award-winning “A Hawaiian Christmas” collection back in 2007, Amy Hanaiali’i decided to celebrate the 2020 season with a wonderful, uplifting new song, “Christmas Brings Hope.”
“With the pandemic going on and everyone fearful and so many cases on the Mainland, I wanted to write something that was hopeful, that we’re going to get through this,” Hanaiali’i said. “Sometimes I feel the news sensationalizes things and puts people in fear, so I wanted to give a little bit of hope.”
The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos
First photo: Lahaina kid Coco Monroe, 5, balances on a lower limb of her town’s famed banyan tree while visiting the holiday-decorated tree with her family Tuesday evening. The banyan features 3,000 colorful bulbs that are scheduled to be lit every night through Jan. 1. “I’m just so glad they are doing something to keep the holiday magical and alive,” said Coco’s father, Owen Langer.
Second photo: Lahaina Restoration Foundation head groundsman Clifford Corniel (right) and maintenance man Anthony Steele tend to the lights decorating the locomotive Launiupoko on Tuesday evening in Lahaina. Decked out for the holidays, the Launiupoko and fellow locomotive, Lahaina, are on display next to the Pioneer Mill smokestack on Lahainaluna Road. Corniel has been decorating the locomotives and the town’s famous banyan tree for years. “It’s a feel-good thing,” Corniel said. “You turn on the lights and people start to smile. They start to f