Honoring the Legacy of Revered Kumu Hula Nālani Kanakaʻole

The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo mourns the passing of Faith Nālani Kanakaʻole whose life’s work profoundly shaped Hawaiian cultural practice and indigenous education.

Portrait of Nālani Kanaka‘ole weaing a white blouse and pearls Nālani Kanakaʻole. Photo courtesy: ʻOhana Zane

Born on March 19, 1946 and raised in Hilo Hawaiʻi, Nālani Kanakaʻole passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family on January 3, 2026, leaving behind a legacy that will continue to guide and inspire generations.

Nālani was part of an extraordinary lineage. The daughter of Luka and the legendary Kumu, Edith Kanakaʻole, she stood in the fifth iteration of a direct line of kumu hula, within a family whose hālau traditions can account for eight generations of teaching and practice. As the youngest of six siblings, she belonged to an ʻohana whose influence on Hawaiian studies and cultural preservation is unparalleled.

Nālani stepped into the kuleana as Kumu of Hālau o Kekahi alongside her sister, Pualani Kanakaʻole Kanahele, and in later years, shared that role with her niece, Huihui Kanahele-Mossman. A guardian of the ancient ʻaihaʻa style, she helped elevate hula as a classical art form while ensuring it remained a living, evolving practice grounded in ʻāina and ancestry.

A UH Hilo graduate, Nālani studied art history in the early 1970s during the same years her mother was pioneering Hawaiian Studies courses at UH Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College. In 2001, after spending time building a family and one of Hawaiʻi’s most beloved and successful fashion lines, she returned to UH Hilo and earned her B.A. in Art.

“Nālani was an extraordinary cultural leader and UH Hilo alumna whose dedication to perpetuating Hawaiian knowledge touched countless lives,” said UH Hilo Chancellor Bonnie Irwin. “Her work elevating hula and Hawaiian cultural practices throughout Hawaiʻi helped shape the broader movement toward indigenous education — a movement that has profoundly influenced our university’s mission.”

Students in UH Hilo library looking at an open book that features a portrait of Edith Kanakaʻole and her daughters, Nālani and Pualani. Picture of Nālani (bottom right), her sister Pualani Kanahele (left) and mother Edith on display in the Edith Kanakaʻole Collection Room at Mookini Library.

A large colorful mural of Edith Kanakaʻole on the exterior wall of a building at UH Hilo, featuring her wearing a green lei poʻo and a yellow garment Edith Kanakaʻole mural on Kanakaʻole Hall. Photo courtesy: ʻOhana Zane At UH Hilo, the Kanakaʻole influence is visible across generations. From the Edith Kanakaʻole Hall named and adorned in tribute to her mother’s invaluable contribution to sharing indigenous knowledge with everyone to the establishment of the Hale Kanakaʻole Fund with the UH Foundation to support Native Hawaiian students across the UH System — the ʻohana’s impact is immeasurable.

Her leadership extended far beyond Hilo. In 1993, Nālani and her older sister Pualani were named National Heritage Fellows by the National Endowment for the Arts, the nation’s highest honor. Hālau o Kekuhi was later recognized as a Living Hawaiian Treasure by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

For many, Nālani was inseparable from the Merrie Monarch Festival, where she served as a highly respected judge for over 20 years. Hālau o Kekuhi holds the honor of being the first hālau to perform on stage at the festival’s opening Hōʻike night every year — setting the tone by grounding the festival in ceremony.

“It’s a sad day for hula,” said Luana Kawelu, Merrie Monarch president and UH Hilo alumna, who shared Nālani was reviewing plans for this year’s presentation just three days before she passed. “That’s how committed she was to hula, and the passion and respect she had for Merrie Monarch.”

Nālani Kanakaʻole performs hula on stage wearing a red and black patterned kīkepa, a lei poʻo (head lei), and a lush green lei ā-ī (neck lei) Nālani on stage at the Merrie Monarch Festival. Photo courtesy: ʻOhana Zane

Nālani Kanakaʻole performs hula on stage wearing a red and black patterned kīkepa, a lei poʻo (head lei), and a lush green lei ā-ī (neck lei) Nālani Kanaka‘ole, husband Sig Zane, and son, Kūhaʻoʻīmaikalani Zane. Photo courtesy: ʻOhana Zane

Together with her husband, Sig Zane, Nālani co-founded Sig Zane Designs in 1985 — helping shape a globally-recognized brand rooted in Hawaiian values and cultural integrity. Their work demonstrates how traditional knowledge can inform contemporary design without compromise.

“Our ʻohana has lost a cultural icon and treasured kumu. Through generations of haumāna — many UH Hilo students — Aunty Nālani was instrumental in ensuring that our traditional knowledge thrives as lived practices, not merely a performance,” said ʻohana member and Interim Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Lei Kapono. “She and the Kanakaʻole ʻohana helped build an institution where indigenous knowledge is central, demonstrating how cultural practice, lived experience, and rigorous scholarship create transformative education.”

Nālani believed culture was something you live every day. Through her teaching, artistry, and unwavering standards of excellence, she showed what it means to honor the past while forging a path for a thriving and evolving future. UH Hilo, and our greater Hilo and Hawaiʻi communities, are better because of her.

A large group of hula dancers from Hālau o Kekuhi pose outdoors on a lava field wearing traditional kapa attire and greenery Nālani with Hālau o Kekuhi at Maunaulu. Photo Courtesy: ʻŌiwiTV

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