Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 7, 1 Iulai 1988 — Fourth Hawaiian to Get $5,000 Grant [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Fourth Hawaiian to Get $5,000 Grant

Kohala's Sproat is National Fellowship Recipient

Clyde (Kindy) Sproat, a Hawaiian singer, uku lele player and storyteller of Niuli'i, Kohala, Hawai'i, is one of 12 American folk artists selected for a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts. Sproat, a one-man repertoire of hundreds ol native Hawaiian songs, including those of Hawaiian cowboys (paniolo), will receive a $5,000 fellowship at a two-day ceremony Sept. 29-30 at the nation's capitol. The other 11 recipients \yill receive the same one-time-only grant along with a formal citation.

I he celebration tor the 12 tellowship recipients will include a Congressional reception at the eapitol and a public gala. Sproat, 60, is the fourth Hawai'i artist to be sc honored since the award was initiated in 1983. The others have been: 1984 — Kau'i Zuttermeister for traditional Hawaiian chanting and hula. 1985 — Meali'i Kalama for Hawaiian quilting. 1987 — Raymond Kane for slack key guitar (ki ho'alu). The fellowships are awarded to master folk artists and artisans who have been nominated by their peers. The nomination criteria are authenticity, excellence and significance within a particular artistic_ tradition. Those nominated should be actively participating in an authentic art form, have a record of ongoing artistic accomplishment and be worthy of nahonal recognition. Fellowship recipients are selected by peer panel review by the Folk Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Deadline for the 1989 nominations is Nov. 1, 1988. > 1 i i

Sproat and the other 11 recipients— skilled masters of a variety of artistic traditions including [ music, dance and crafts — were selected from I among 155 traditional artists nominated by their i peers. Fellowship recipients spanned the geographic

I breadth of the nation — from Vermont to Hawai'i | and North Dakota to Texas. | Sproat is a native of the isolated valleys of I Hawai'i where he grew up singing with his family I and later in school, having learned some 400 I Hawaiian songs by a young age. Later, paniolos of I nearby ranches provided more songs for his native I Hawaiian repertoire as well as instruction in the I ukulele. Sproat's vast cultural repertoire — combined I with his exquisite falsetto and astoundingly forceI ful and supple voice — brought him far from his native Hawai'i, including performances at CarneI gie Hall and the National Folk Festival. He is also featured on a double tape recording of paniolo music published by the Hawai'i State Foundation I nn C!iiltnrp anH thp Arts

Sproat was born in Kohala and raised in Hono- | kane Iki whieh he describes as "a valley two hours away from the end of the car road" where transportation from there was by mule paek train. His I family lived in rural isolation and simplicity. Later the family moved to Niuli'i, closer to | schools, churches, restaurants and saloons where little Clyde used to stop and listen to the master ' slack key guitar players of the time — John Akina, John Kama and Kalei Kalalia. Sproat today lives with his wife and family in a house he built near the valley where he was raised, still beyond the end of the road. His reputation often calls him away. Perhaps the most important facet of Sproat's music and singing are the depth and sincerity of his attachment to what he calls the old tradition. Thus, this makes him a truly Hawaiian treasure.

^HhHHHHHHHHHHHHH^IIwHHHHHIHHHHHHHH^ ® Clyde (Kindy) Sproat

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