CYD Song Background
By Sunny-Aloha Miller
Being a Public Relations volunteer for Hawaii CYD, I was a very strong supporter for this event for many years. I love music and thought a song was a great way to share our event around the world.
I first contacted Ricky Hana, who is a song writer and musician I met years ago when he won a Hawaii Music Award. He lived in California but used to live on Maui as a tour guide. I asked if he could write a love song for our children. I came up with the title for the song and he wrote the words and music for it, which took about a year of us going back and forth.
Then I asked A Touch of Gold if they could sing the song. I also asked a friend's daughter, Teal, if she could be a part of it, too. I knew she was amazing singer as well, plus she was still in school at the time. I knew it would be so great having a youth a part of this project.
The next person I approached was Pierre Grill, who has a wonderful recording studio and is a very talented musician himself, to record the song for us.
These people volunteered their time and effort to create this song. I told them from the beginning that any profit will go back to Hawaii CYD. None of them hesitated at all! The tricky part is Taylor, Teal, Pierre and I were in Hawaii, Ricky was in California and Bill was overseas for the military. It took about another year in working out the music and perfecting the song. Finally, when Bill flew back to Hawaii, we went into the recording studio. It was simply wonderful!
At a Hawaii CYD meeting, I played the song for everyone, letting them know that I wanted to share the song about our event with the world. Susie fell in love with the song and suggested that it be our theme song for the event. I'll never forgot that moment in the room. Everyone agreed.
So that is how the song came to be the theme song for Hawaii Children and Youth Day!
Right after the song was completed, I received a call from United Nations - Hawaii Division. I was told that In a few days there were going to be 60–80 worldwide visitors flying in to Hawaii on their way to the “World Run for Peace.” They asked if I could meet with them to see how I could help them set up media interviews. So I met with the organizers then finally all of them while I helped them with their media interviews and events. On the last night, I was invited to a Private event with them. They even dressed me in their special clothing! At the end of the event they allowed me to play the song — which they fell in love with! I shared with them about our event, and they were so touched and excited! They had ideas of how they wanted to start something in their own country/city!