Early Life & Family

Liko Martin was born in Honolulu in 1945, the day after the United Nations opened in Geneva, Switzerland. Some say that “the United Nations was a great idea…and then Liko was the backup plan.”

His father was an Army musician, and his mother was an administrator and professional singer who had recorded with a young Gabby Pahinui, having six siblings who included well-known judges, community leaders and a former Miss Hawaiʻi. Her family was deeply rooted in Hawaiʻi’s history, from her father, City Councilman Ernest Heen, to her great-grandmother, who was imprisoned in 1895 for reportedly smuggling weapons to Hawaiian patriots in a cartload of bananas.

Musical Beginnings

Liko learned to play kī hōʻalu (slack key) guitar from his grandfather at their Diamond Head home when he was nine years old. The first day that he was taught the guitar, he wrote three songs. Since then, Liko has written hundreds of songs, including classics such as “All Hawaiʻi Stands Together/Hawaiʻi Loa Kūlike Kākou,” “Nānākuli Blues” (aka “Waimanalo Blues,” which he created from a poem his friend Thor Wold wrote about manaʻo Liko shared with him on a ride to Kaʻena Point), “We Are the Children,” “Sunlight, Moonlight,” and more.

Military Service & Scientific Studies

Liko was a message router in the Air Force, where, after speaking his mind regarding the Viet Nam War, he received an early honorable discharge and enrolled at the University of Hawaiʻi to study geology, oceanography and other physical sciences. This has aided him greatly in articulating aloha ʻāina concepts in modern terms.

After this, he went to work on the island of Kwajalein, where he learned from the residents of Ebeye about the true effects of nuclear contamination. In 1967, he wrote the first of his many “love letters” to Congress, about the need to stop nuclear bombing in the Pacific. This began his activism, which has now spanned nearly six decades.

Kalama Valley & Hōkūleʻa

In 1970, he joined efforts to protect Kalama Valley on the island of Oʻahu from development, and was arrested in 1971 on the roof of pig farmer George Santo’s house.

After this, he went to live in South Kona, where he became the kakoʻo (assistant) of a powerful kupuna, Auntie Clara Manise of Hōnaunau. Auntie Clara had been told by her elders to always keep a special gold cloth by her, because “one day, a canoe is going to come.” Sure enough, one day the Hokuleʻa appeared offshore on its initial interisland test voyage, floundering with damages, without a safe place or traditional knowledge to moor. Auntie Clara waved the cloth, and guided the canoe in.

She, Liko and a small crew that would become Hokuleʻa’s elders went aboard, and ended up taking over the waʻa for the remainder of the voyage, which culminated in Liko captaining Hokuleʻa for a very memorable return, surfing the 61-foot canoe into his home sands of Waikīkī.

Teachers & Influences

Liko also learned from other great kupuna of the time, including ‘Iolani Luahine (whose kahu, Sam Hart, gave him the name “Liko o ka Lani”), Emma Defries, Harry Kunihi Mitchell, Vince Napolis and Pīlahi Pākī, who translated “All Hawaiʻi Stands together” into “Hawaiʻi Loa Kūlike Kākou.”

Musical Impact & the Hawaiian Renaissance

Meanwhile, Liko was a major, largely unseen musical force behind the Hawaiian Renaissance. In addition to his own music, which included opening for Santana with a 7-piece band at the 1973 Crater Festival to a skydiving airshow, and intensive courtship by several major record labels, Liko was involved with creative coaching, A&R, and management, and worked with bands such as Country Comfort, Olomana and Kalapana, amongst others.

He founded his own company, Mountain Apple Productions, which went on to become the quintessential sound of the 1970’s under legendary producer John DeMello. Liko’s manaʻo behind the name came from a period of colonial hardship in Hanalei Valley on Kauaʻi in the 1800’s, where a miraculous reblooming of the ‘ōhiʻa ‘ai kept the people from starvation. The purpose of Liko’s music is to feed the people, just as the mountain apple did back then.

Activism & Nationhood

Liko and his close friend Kawaipuna Prejean, with funding that largely came from secret movement supporter Don Ho and a few other hidden allies, were behind many of the defining moments of the 1970’s, from the first landing on Kahoʻolawe to the first January 17th event at ‘Iolani Palace, entitled “All Hawaiʻi Stands Together,” for which Liko took out the first permit in 1977.

That event was part of a multi-island tour that Liko organized with his friend George Helm, who was lost at sea before the tour was complete. Liko and Kawaipuna also ran an independence-focused organization called the Hawaiian Coalition for Native Claims, which had an office on King Street from which much of the initial international work for the restoration of Hawaiʻi’s independence was done.

Exile, Solidarity & Cultural Work

Liko’s intense activism eventually resulted in threats to his life, and he was exiled to California for several years. Liko also traveled to the Continent to connect with Indigenous peoples there, forming deep bonds with communities working to protect their lands, waters and cultures.

He has also traveled throughout Hawaiʻi, working as a traditional kukuʻi, or storyteller/musician, spreading oral history, music and knowledge while working directly with communities on taro farming, fishing and other cultural practices about which he is deeply knowledgeable. He has helped to unify communities and bring movements together through the power of music.

Legacy

Throughout all of this work, Liko’s deepest love has been for his children, all of whom he cherishes dearly. Now a great-grandfather, Liko takes tremendous pride in his descendants, who include skilled artisans, native plant specialists, musicians, surfers, healers, fishermen, and so many other contributors to our great Lāhui.

Liko will be 80 this year. He sums up his message to the next generation in the following manaʻo: “Let us assume our responsibilities, and take control of our destiny and our country, Hawaiʻi. Let us fulfill the prophecies of our kūpuna.”