Kani ka ʻōpala: music made from Rubbish

The kani ka ʻōpala project* began as an exercise in applied ecomusicology: how to repurpose everyday discards (ʻōpala) found on the streets of Oʻahu and encourage students to examine our consumptive habits. The initial result was MUS311, a place-based ensemble dedicated to exploring the music of Thailand with instruments built in class and sourced from salvaged items. It has since expanded into the projects featured on this site.

HPU Exhibit

(this page under construction…)

https://youtube.com/shorts/maw-0DeTV2M?feature=share

A new iteration of the kani ka ʻōpala exhibit has been installed for the Fall 2026 semester at Hawaiʻi Pacific University‘s Experiential Arts center at Aloha Tower Marketplace.

This exhibit features many of the same instruments from previous iterations at Capitol Modern and UH Hamilton Library but with additional hands-on stations and new instruments built by HPU students over two semesters in my Ecomusicology Workshop course: