At his home in Des Moines, Wash., Kevin Sur’s record collection is a tangible soundtrack of his life. Many of them belonged to his father, Roland (“Ron”), who colored Sur’s adolescence with the sounds of Motown, Italian opera, and kī hōʻalu (slack key).
When a young Sur first listened to Hawaiian guitarist Gabby Pahinui, he couldn’t have known then that his own fingers would strum guitar strings in front of crowds. Sur never imagined that he’d transition from playing in a band to starting music festivals to working as a DJ at Seattle radio station KEXP.
Although Sur grew up in San Mateo, Calif., his Hawaiian culture was close at hand. His father’s ʻohana from Oʻahu resettled in the Bay Area, surrounding Sur with the aloha of aunties, uncles and cousins at family gatherings.
“I was lucky,” Sur, 48, said. “As I got older, it became apparent to me how special and rare of a cultural existence that was.”
He shared a deep connection with his tūtū wahine, the family matriarch. “The happiest place on Earth was in her kitchen and the dining table that we’d all eat at,” Sur said.
Cooking was also how he understood his maternal roots. Sur’s mom, Alberta, is of European descent with Italian roots. The Massachusetts native met Ron, a Vietnam veteran, at a wedding. The couple had Sur’s older brother, Ryan, before Sur was born, completing the family.
In the Bay Area, Sur remembers a large Polynesian community – but not many Kānaka Maoli. “The story of Kānaka Maoli who are not able to be in the place they belong to is not spoken of enough,” Sur said.
In high school, he focused on sports. After starting baseball and football at the age of 5, Sur was a formidable athletic force by his teenage years. He received scholarships to play football at Division 2 schools, but Sur had found an even more powerful passion: music.
At 13 years old, he spotted a dusty guitar in the corner of a friend’s basement. It was gifted to Sur, who taught himself how to play it. From then on, he was hooked.
After high school, Sur attended California State University, Sacramento, for six months. He befriended Melanie Levy, a singer, and they decided to start a band. After eight months of songwriting and finding bass player Andre Gallardo and drummer Liz Beidelman, “Luckie Strike” was formed.
The next seven years were spent touring the country as a punk band, releasing albums and playing gigs in every state except Alaska and Maine. A robbery in Houston, Texas, and problems with a former manager eventually broke up Luckie Strike when Sur was around 25 years old.
That time in his life didn’t afford him much room to explore his identity. “There wasn’t really much immersion in Hawaiian culture,” Sur said.
Still, “when it ended, I was just really heartbroken,” he added.
To figure out his next steps, Sur moved to Seattle, Wash. He studied music theory at Shoreline Community College for two years, singing opera and doing musical theater.
Around that time, Katie, his high school crush, found Sur on MySpace. An opera singer herself, she and Sur started dating in 2004.
He returned to the Bay Area to finish his bachelor’s degree in music composition at the University of California, Santa Cruz, over 2-1/2 years. After that, Sur moved back to Washington and then in 2007, he and Katie were married on Oʻahu.
In 2008, Sur started Artist Home, a company that supports musicians through bookings, consultations and more. That year, he helped create Doe Bay Fest, a music festival in the San Juan Islands. And in 2013, he launched Timber! Outdoor Music in Carnation, Wash.
“I can say that I’ve made a huge impact on the music community here,” Sur said.
It wasn’t until his adulthood that Sur overcame his imposter syndrome as a Kanaka ʻŌiwi. “You feel like you’re not Hawaiian enough,” he said. “You’re separated from these people that mean so much to you.”
Having his two sons – Tucker in 2010 and Hudson in 2014 – helped him overcome that hurdle because Sur sought to teach them about their kūpuna.
Last year, Sur heard that KEXP Radio was looking for DJs for an Indigenous radio show. “I knew I had to apply,” he said. It felt like the moment had arrived for Sur to intertwine his music expertise with his dedication to the native communities, including Kānaka Maoli, that mean so much to him.
Within two weeks, he got the job. Sur co-hosts alongside Tory Johnston, a Quinault Native, on “Sounds of Survivance,” which features Indigenous music from around the world.
At the radio station, he’s uplifting the work of young Hawaiian artists like Isabeau Waiaʻu Walker and Bridge Hartman. Sur is also bridging native peoples through songs on his platform.
“I wanted to do the work and honor other people’s ancestors and the histories with the same reverence that I honor my own,” Sur said. “It’s a pretty amazing kuleana to carry.”
As much as he loves Hawaiʻi, Sur doesn’t know if he’d be able to afford to live there.
“It would be a dream to be able to, but I don’t entertain it because it takes me two seconds to look at what things cost and how few opportunities there are, especially for musicians,” Sur said.
Instead, for now, he’s found his place in Washington.
