Noelani Keahi

Noelani Keahi

(they/he/she)

Aloha mai kākou! I am Noelani, affectionately known to many as Noe. I am a māhū multicultural Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) and reconnecting Yoʻeme/Yaqui relative. I was born and raised in the Diaspora of Turtle Island on the lands of the Southern Paiute people, also known as Las Vegas, Nevada.

I now reside on the lands of the Dxw’Dəw?Abš (Duwamish) and Coast Salish peoples, also known as Seattle. I moved here after receiving a scholarship from Cornish College of the Arts to study Interdisciplinary Performance Art (music, theatre, and dance). I graduated in spring of 2023 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and am so grateful to be able to translate and weave the practices I learned in my higher education to my role and responsibilities here at Daybreak Star Radio.

Joining the Daybreak Star Radio team as a Production Assistant is and has been a serendipitous and wonderful experience, one I am deeply grateful for every day. Here, I have found a blossoming sense of kinship and the opportunity to connect with Pasifika and Indigenous kin across Turtle Island and Moananuiākea, sharing in conversation about art, creative expression, and the cultures we come from. It is with immense gratitude and excitement that I host “Navigating Oceania“—an auditory expedition where we travel across the majestic and diverse musical landscapes of Oceania’s Indigenous peoples. This show is a curation of our diverse and beautiful mele (music, songs, and poetry), interviews from kin across Moananui, an is intended to be a luʻu (deep dive) into our moʻolelo (stories), histories, languages, and ongoing struggles for ea (breath, life, sovereignty) as well as an expression of the fierce aloha ʻāina (love of the land, and each other) that we as Native peoples embody.

You can find me (co-)hosting and facilitating interviews, writing blog posts, attending hybrid community events, creating content for our social media, and hosting my weekly radio show, Navigating Oceania.  As we traverse the waves of sound together, I invite you to join me every Thursday  at 7pm PST / 10pm EST in this exploration, to delve into the depths of our shared heritage, and to experience the stories our music tells. You can be part of this journey and our ever-growing community by following my voyage on Instagram @mananoenepantla.

Mahalo nui loa for your support and listenership. May the music of all our relations guide us to new understandings, embodied joy, healing, and solidarity within and between our communities.