T.J. Keanu Tario

There has to be a certain level of purpose behind what I do, and the  purpose with my music is always to uplift other works, other voices and give them life. My goal is to uplift the Pacifika voice as much as possible. 

T.J. Keanu Tario is a Julliard-trained kanaka maoli classical pianist and composer, Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, and māhū drag artist.

T.J. started composing out of a desire to find her voice. While she has always composed in some capacity, playing and performing were her first love. But there was a time when pressure to be perfect made it impossible to let go and feel free in playing. Composing and drag performing gave her new avenues for self-expression. 

Composing and drag performing, gender expression–it was sort of my armor. And I can tie this back to my culture. Hawaiians are very visual people. Everything that we do, we aren’t just performing, we’re embodying. It comes with the story, with the lineage and pilina. 

For T.J., composing offers an chance to trust her instincts. To trust in her voice and her process. Since studying in the CalArts Composition Division, T.J. has written music for more than a dozen films and projects. When scoring a film, the music is born from the story, the visuals guiding the music. The visuals and score working to elevate each other. In the end, her hope is that the audience receives the gift of the music as more than just notes on the page.

Especially with this Mauna Kea film, I could see myself and my culture within the visuals and then also the music. It’s something that is so very connected. This project was my way of connecting and being there, to get back to the root of my culture. 

While living on the continent for fifteen years and studying, the focus was on the Western classics.  In moving back to Oʻahu, it’s now time to deconstruct everything to find the next evolution in her voice as a composer. 

It was so very important for me to go to the source. To go up to Mauna Kea several times to just be with the mountain and only my thoughts. To see what music came to me then. With my work now , I feel called back to the islands as a conscious decision to get back in touch with my roots and find projects that fill my naʻau. To keep finding ways to give back.

For the album, Standing Above the Clouds, T.J. had the experience of going back into the studio with a producer to rerecord the film score. This was a chance to get reacquainted with her music after trips back to the mountain, back to the source of the work. It was a bold decision to have a second look, to deconstruct her own composition. 

Producer and Lōʻihi Records founder, Dean Harada shares about the process: “You could immediately hear in T.J.’s original score the influences of her training and experience. The breadth of those influences and the depth of her training in varied modalities at the highest levels – that is rare. The way she synthesizes those elements into a singular voice – that is unique. It’s a voice that converses fluently with tradition while speaking clearly within a contemporary context.”

The delicate reassembly of her composition into new forms reframed that voice while emphasizing the connection to ʻāina inherent in the work.

The music encapsulates what we have to do as Hawaiians in protecting something that is so much bigger than us. Mauna Kea is a genesis land. Itʻs where all Hawaiians were birthed. Itʻs the genesis for where the islands were birthed. Itʻs a place where the gods are connected to the land, and the land is connected to the people. Itʻs a stewarding process to be part of telling this story with the music.