On nā kumu akua a pau, I hānau ‘ia i ka pō, I ka lā hiki kū, Ea ke kai mai.

At the 3-minute mark of Hawiian reggae band Cherreh Strawberry’s crucial new single, “Wave of Resistance,” the instrumentation drops out and the above lyrical passage is chanted along with some tribal percussion.

It precisely translates to:

All the gods of beginnings

That have given birth to the night

To the expected sun

So have come these waters

Per Cherreh Strawberry singer, Sol Church, the “context translation” is:

Our elders are our teachers.

Here I am born into darkness.

Like the sun, I will rise up

And be as strong and vast as the sea.

Like the sun, I will rise up and be as strong and vast as the sea, an apt analogy for the band themselves who have manifested something amazing from a grim tragedy, creating a force of positivity and good vibes in the wake of devastation.

In early August of 2023, due to dry and gusty conditions, a series of wildfires ignited and tore through the town of Lahaina on Maui’s northwest coast. The wind-driven fires destroyed over 2200 mostly residential buildings, causing an estimated $5.5 billion in damage. Hundreds of homes burned in mere minutes and many residents trapped by the fires sadly perished. According to Church, the county’s lack of emergency preparedness worsened the catastrophe because there were no sirens and no radio broadcasts to warn people of the danger.

While this event evoked sympathy and elicited donations to relief efforts from people around the world, to most, this was a harrowing news story about a natural disaster in a distant paradise.  But to the residents of Maui and Lahaina in particular, this was a living nightmare that ravaged their tight-knit community, their ohana. Loved ones were lost, their blissful home destroyed.

Daniel Lopez

Members of Cherreh Strawberry lived through this terrifying experience, their companions and kin directly affected. Keyboard player Daniel Lopez, for example, who lived with his girlfriend, Emilie, in a particularly hard-hit area on Front Street, was on his way to work when he received a call from management saying there was no power. He turned around and went home, only to encounter roadblocks and closures around his house, essentially trapping he and Emilie in the fire zone. They abandoned their vehicle, escaping with only a few belongings. They lost their home, a car and most of their possessions.

A few days later, while visiting a local community shelter to acquire some food and basic essentials, Lopez heard the sound of live music playing in the courtyard. Curious, he went to check it out and encountered Church, playing with a group of friends to bolster the spirits of the people at the shelter. Church had been invited by local musicians Matteo Barracho of the band Sticky Rice and Devin Puma of No Komply to join some other musicians as part of an impromptu performance, knowing that some live music would help soothe the despondent fire victims.  Interestingly, there was a keyboard on stage with no one playing it, so Lopez decided to go up and accompany the band. It turned out that Church had been looking for a keyboardist to jam and create music with, which led Church and Lopez to exchange digits for later communication.

Sol Church

After some time had passed and Lopez sorted out matters related to the fires, he met up with Church again at Shroomcat Studios for a jam session. Sol brought guitarist Raja Iliya and drummer Spencer Engler to the sesh; he had met them at a charity event for the Kula fires, which happened concurrently an hour east of the Lahaina fires. “All of us had prior bands and groups that were slowly unraveling and coming to an end, so fate brought us together,” Church explained. “We knew we had a unique sound and energy, so we decided to form a new group.”

To represent their new band, at Church’s urging, the guys decided on the moniker Cherreh Strawberry, which stems from the Pidgin or Hawaiian slang term, “cherreh,” which means sweet, perfect, beautiful or awesome. As the story goes, Lopez would say “cherreh” frequently, and Church would respond each time by saying, “Strawberry.” Church also advocated for the name amongst his peers because he liked that it was not genre-specific and appealed to family and children.

Eventually, Lopez brought a longtime friend, Jason Geary, to play bass with them and he felt like a good fit. They played as a five-piece for a while, but Church urged the guys to consider adding a second guitarist, Jeremy Savo, and when they heard him play at one of their jam sessions, they agreed with Church that he brought something special to the band and needed to be part of it. Finally, they added Mike Mahoney on percussion, the proverbial cherry on top of the cake. (Or, in this case, strawberry.)

Despite the fact that Cherreh Strawberry have only released three songs so far, it’s already obvious that these are seasoned musicians with a lot of talent. Sol Church, who’s multigenerational ohana links back to the first Polynesian people who inhabited Hawaii, sang lead for Spear Tip, a reggae band on the island. As a political activist, he aspires to use music to “bring light to the destruction of Hawaii and its dwindling population and culture.”

As for the varied backgrounds of other band members, Lopez came from a “commercial jingle” background and had been part of Lahaina-based funk group called INNIT that jammed at local venues and open mics around the island. Raja Iliya and Spencer Engler were both part of MOTM Collective, performing together for about eight years at multiple venues around the island.  Jason Geary played bass in Lahaina with Lopez at open mics and was a freelance ukulele player and bassist for multiple solo artists. Jeremy Savo and Mike Mahoney are learned musicians with college degrees in various music studies, both hailing from Philadelphia and having played with a group titled Out of the Beardspace.

Cherreh Strawberry fittingly released their first song, “I Love You Like Ulu,” on Valentine’s Day of 2024. Lopez sings lead on this one, his honey-dripped vocals delivering an infectious melody over a roots reggae beat. Lyrically, Lopez sings to his girlfriend, who he refers to as an ulu, the Hawaiian term for breadfruit, a staple food source in the islands. Church chimes in with some harmonizing, his gruffer yet still polished voice complementing Lopez perfectly.

I love you like ulu

You fill me up

You’re sweet like candy

Can’t get enough

The group followed up with another single on April 1, titled “Make Way,” shifting from a love song to a traditional roots rocker that embraces gratitude and celebrates a new day. It opens with keyboard bubble to set the skank, before launching into the uplifting chorus:

Make way for the positive vibrations

Stand firm for the healing of this nation

Give thanks for all Jah’s creation

(One love, one life) Let’s show appreciation

The song sagely reminds listeners to “Treasure every moment, every breath of your life” and features a hard-rock style lead guitar solo and later a funky little organ solo, as well as beautiful backing harmonies from Iliya, Savo and Lopez.

More recently, on June 1, Cherreh Strawberry released their latest tune, the aforementioned “Wave of Resistance,” a super catchy progressive roots tune with palm-muted guitar “stickies” and Church on lead vocals, exhorting the masses to come together to challenge a corrupt system. After the passage mentioned at the beginning of this article, the tune breaks into more of a dancehall-type cadence with lyrics calling for unity:

This is a message to the people

Let us rise up like the tide

Yes together we can stand  

Against a system that divides

‘Cause time is all we have

Ain’t got no chance to press rewind

With all our hands together

Like the ocean we will rise

Cherreh Strawberry records most of their live instrumentation at Shroomcat Studios in Wailuku, Maui. “All of our music is a group effort,” said Church. “We come up with chord progressions and then jam and play off each other, creating most of our music and lyrics. We all have a part to play in creating our sound.”

It’s a sound that should no doubt resonate with fans of modern reggae worldwide, infusing that California reggae vibe with a touch of Hawaiian style. Church said that Cherreh Strawberry has a few more tracks “in the pipeline” but with seven guys with seven different schedules, it takes a lot of maneuvering to get everything recorded.  “We are on a mission to release music with a message,” he stated. “A message of keeping the Hawaiian culture and way of life intact, as well as bringing the human race together in unification, standing up against negativity in this world, and being a positive light.” Church emphasized that they use ancient chants like the one quoted above in their music “to make sure that indigenous people in Hawaii and around the world are acknowledged and not forgotten.”

Like a phoenix, Cherreh Strawberry has risen from the ashes of the Lahaina fires to uplift listeners with songs of fortitude, hope and healing, music to galvanize the people of Hawaii and others beyond those tropical coastlines who are fortunate enough to hear them.