Hawaiian Music • Recorded Legacy • Music Publishing • Cultural Connection
Helping Hawaii’s Music Travel Across Generations — and Around the World
Some forms of stewardship happen in forests.
Some happen in loʻi, classrooms, workshops, kitchens and communities.
And some happen behind the music.
In recording studios.
Inside archives.
Through relationships built with artists over decades.
In the careful work of producing, publishing, distributing, licensing and carrying recordings forward so that a voice captured in one generation can still reach another.
For more than half a century, Mountain Apple Company has been part of that story in Hawaiʻi.
Founded by producer Jon de Mello, Mountain Apple has worked across nearly every part of Hawaii’s music and entertainment industry — producing and recording artists, publishing music, distributing recordings, managing and supporting talent, producing concerts and performances, and helping music created in Hawaiʻi reach audiences far beyond these islands.
Along the way, its work has become connected with an extraordinary constellation of Hawaiʻi artists.
Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole.
The Brothers Cazimero.
Brother Noland.
Willie K.
HAPA.
Hawaiian Style Band.
Amy Hanaialiʻi.
Don Ho.
Jack de Mello.
Rap Reiplinger.
Palani Vaughan.
And many others whose voices, compositions, humor, artistry and recordings form part of Hawaii’s musical memory.
Today, Mountain Apple’s kuleana has evolved.
Its focus includes stewardship of its extensive recording catalog, music publishing and licensing — helping music recorded across generations remain discoverable, usable and heard in a rapidly changing world.
That matters.
Because music does more than entertain.
Music can carry language.
Place.
Memory.
Identity.
History.
Humor.
Love.
Loss.
Resistance.
Celebration.
And the voices of people who are no longer here to sing for us themselves.
For its enduring contribution to Hawaii’s music ecosystem and its continuing work carrying an extraordinary body of recorded music forward, Support Local Hawaii is honored to recognize Mountain Apple Company as a ♦ Diamond Steward of Hawaiʻi.
More Than a Record Label
It would be easy to describe Mountain Apple Company simply as a record label.
But that would miss much of the story.
Across more than five decades, the company has participated in almost every facet of the music and entertainment industry.
Recording.
Producing.
Publishing.
Distribution.
Artist management and consulting.
Concert promotion.
Stage production.
Music licensing.
Film and television.
And the long, less-visible work that happens after an album has been released and the spotlight has moved somewhere else.
That last part may be among the most important today.
Mountain Apple maintains an extensive catalog of Hawaiian and Polynesian recordings and continues working to bring that music into contemporary channels and audiences.
A recording created decades ago does not automatically remain available forever.
Formats change.
Stores disappear.
Technology changes.
Listening habits change.
Generations change.
Yet the mele remains.
Keeping that connection alive takes work.
A Company Born During an Extraordinary Era
Mountain Apple emerged during a remarkable period in Hawaii’s cultural and musical history.
The 1970s were years of renewed Hawaiian cultural consciousness and creativity.
Across Hawaiʻi, people were strengthening relationships with Hawaiian language, hula, voyaging, ʻāina, genealogy, history, identity and music.
Artists were not simply looking backward.
They were creating.
Experimenting.
Reconnecting.
Teaching.
Performing.
And carrying Hawaiian music into a new generation.
Jon de Mello was part of that changing musical landscape.
Raised around music as the son of composer, arranger and producer Jack de Mello, Jon learned the recording business from an early age.
As his own work developed, so did a company that would become deeply intertwined with Hawaii’s modern recording history.
Among Mountain Apple’s earliest relationships were artists and entertainers including The Brothers Cazimero, Booga Booga and Rap Reiplinger.
The talent was already here.
Mountain Apple helped build some of the infrastructure around it.
That distinction matters.
A record company does not create the culture from which music comes.
It does not own the places, families, teachers, communities, experiences and traditions that shape an artist.
The artist brings the gift.
The culture carries knowledge much older than any company.
But good infrastructure can help a gift travel.
It can create a recording.
Build an audience.
Support a performance.
Distribute an album.
Protect and administer a catalog.
Open a door into film or television.
And sometimes help music born in Hawaiʻi reach farther than anyone could have predicted.
The Brothers Cazimero
One of the foundational relationships in Mountain Apple’s history is with Robert and Roland Cazimero — The Brothers Cazimero.
Their music became part of an extraordinary period of Hawaiian cultural resurgence, bringing Hawaiian music, language, performance and contemporary creativity to audiences throughout Hawaiʻi and beyond.
Mountain Apple’s relationship with the Brothers extended beyond making records.
The company worked across management, production, promotion and performance, including the Brothers Cazimero’s beloved annual May Day concerts at the Waikīkī Shell.
Those concerts became part of Hawaii’s musical life.
And the relationship illustrates something important about Mountain Apple’s history:
The work was never only about what happened inside a recording studio.
It was also about helping build the structures through which Hawaiʻi artists could be heard, seen and sustained.
And Then Came IZ
There may be no chapter of Mountain Apple’s history known more widely than its relationship with Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole.
But the story deserves to be told carefully.
Mountain Apple did not create IZ.
Hawaiʻi already knew him.
Years with the Makaha Sons of Niʻihau had established Israel as a beloved Hawaiian musician long before his solo career with Mountain Apple began.
What happened next was a meeting of extraordinary talent with people and infrastructure capable of helping carry that talent farther.
IZ approached Jon de Mello as he prepared for a solo career.
Together, they made Facing Future.
Released in 1993, the album became a landmark in Hawaiian recording history.
Its songs included Hawaiian mele, contemporary compositions and a quiet medley that would eventually become one of the most widely recognized recordings associated with Hawaiʻi anywhere in the world:
“Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World.”
But Mountain Apple’s contribution to IZ’s legacy extends far beyond the original album.
Israel passed away in 1997 at only 38 years old.
The music did not.
Through decades of catalog stewardship, publishing, licensing, distribution and adaptation to new listening platforms, his recordings continued traveling.
Films discovered them.
Television discovered them.
New generations discovered them.
Digital audiences discovered them.
And listeners who first encountered a famous song sometimes went deeper — discovering Facing Future, E Ala E, N Dis Life, Hawaiian mele, Hawaiian history and the man behind the voice.
That continuing relationship between an artist, a catalog and generations not yet born when the recordings were made is one of the clearest examples of why musical stewardship matters.
Beyond the Rainbow
IZ deserves his own story.
And on Support Local Hawaii, he has one.
But Mountain Apple’s story cannot stop there.
Explore its catalog and another history of Hawaiʻi begins appearing.
The Brothers Cazimero.
Brother Noland.
Willie K.
HAPA.
Hawaiian Style Band.
Amy Hanaialiʻi.
Don Ho.
Palani Vaughan.
Jack de Mello.
Rap Reiplinger.
And many more.
Different generations.
Different genres.
Different voices.
Different relationships to Hawaiʻi.
No single company represents Hawaiian music.
No single catalog could.
Hawaiʻi’s musical traditions and communities are far larger, older and more diverse than any institution.
But when so many significant recordings gather within one catalog, caring for that catalog carries responsibility.
Because behind every track is more than a file.
There is an artist.
A composer.
A musician.
A family.
A story.
A time and place.
And an audience — including listeners who may not have been born yet.
An Archive Still Alive
An archive does not have to be silent.
Mountain Apple’s catalog continues moving through the world.
Its licensing work places recordings in film, television and other media, introducing Hawaiʻi artists to audiences who may otherwise never encounter them.
Mountain Apple’s licensing history includes music used in productions ranging from Finding Forrester and 50 First Dates to Hawaiʻi Five-0, Finding ʻOhana, NCIS: Hawaiʻi, The White Lotus, Rescue: HI-Surf and Lilo & Stitch.
Some viewers will simply hear a beautiful song.
Others will ask:
Who is singing?
What is this song?
Where did it come from?
Who wrote it?
What does it mean?
And sometimes that small moment becomes a doorway.
A listener discovers an artist.
An artist leads to an album.
An album leads to other musicians.
Music leads to language, history, people and place.
That is one way cultural discovery begins.
The responsibility is to make sure the doorway leads somewhere deeper.
Carrying Music Through Changing Times
The music industry Mountain Apple entered more than fifty years ago barely resembles the one that exists today.
Vinyl gave way to cassettes.
Cassettes to compact discs.
Physical stores to downloads.
Downloads to streaming.
Television changed.
Film changed.
Distribution changed.
Marketing changed.
And the internet changed what it means for a musician from Hawaiʻi to reach the world.
Through those changes, one fundamental need remained:
Someone still has to care for the recording.
Someone has to know what exists.
Someone has to maintain the rights and relationships surrounding it.
Someone has to make it discoverable on the platforms where the next generation is listening.
Someone has to answer when a filmmaker wants to use it.
Someone has to preserve enough context that the artist does not disappear behind a famous song.
Catalog stewardship can sound like an industry term.
At its best, it is also continuity.
The People Behind the Music
One reason Support Local Hawaii believes this story matters is that audiences often see only the person onstage.
That person deserves the spotlight.
But an ecosystem exists behind nearly every enduring creative work.
Musicians.
Composers.
Kumu.
Families.
Producers.
Engineers.
Photographers.
Designers.
Managers.
Publishers.
Promoters.
Venues.
Distributors.
Archivists.
Broadcasters.
Filmmakers.
Listeners.
And communities that gave the music somewhere to belong in the first place.
Mountain Apple represents one part of that ecosystem.
Its story reminds us that supporting local music means more than applauding a performance.
It also means strengthening the relationships and infrastructure that allow Hawaiʻi artists to create, record, earn, share and leave something for those who come next.
Stewardship Is Not Ownership of the Story
There is an important distinction here.
Preserving a recording is not the same as owning the culture that gave birth to it.
Distributing Hawaiian music does not make any company the voice of Hawaiian culture.
And helping an artist reach the world does not diminish that artist’s own agency, community, genealogy, teachers, collaborators or gifts.
Good stewardship understands those boundaries.
The role is not to become the hero of someone else’s story.
The role is to care well for what has been entrusted to you.
To credit outward.
To preserve context.
To protect relationships.
To help the work continue reaching people.
And when the world comes looking for a song, to help ensure there is still a path back to the people and place behind it.
That is the kind of stewardship Support Local Hawaii seeks to recognize here.
Why Support Local Hawaii Recognizes Mountain Apple Company
Support Local Hawaii exists to strengthen Hawaiʻi’s Culture, Communities and Ecosystems by helping the people and organizations already doing meaningful work discover and strengthen one another.
Music belongs within that ecosystem.
Mele carries memory.
Artists carry stories.
Recordings connect generations.
And the infrastructure surrounding those artists can determine whether important work disappears with changing technology or remains available for people who come decades later.
Mountain Apple Company has spent more than half a century helping Hawaii’s music move.
From studios to stages.
From records to digital platforms.
From Hawaiʻi to listeners around the world.
And from one generation to another.
Its contribution is not that it created the extraordinary artists represented in its catalog.
Those gifts belong to the artists themselves and to the people, places, relationships and traditions that shaped them.
Mountain Apple’s contribution has been helping those gifts travel — and continuing to care for a remarkable body of recorded work after the original moment of release has passed.
For that enduring contribution to Hawaii’s music ecosystem, Support Local Hawaii is honored to recognize Mountain Apple Company as a ♦ Diamond Steward of Hawaiʻi.
Stewardship in Action
Recorded Music
Producing & Recording
Mountain Apple has worked with generations of Hawaiʻi artists across traditional Hawaiian, contemporary Hawaiian, island and other musical forms.
Distribution
For decades, the company helped recordings created in Hawaiʻi reach stores, audiences and markets both within the islands and beyond them.
Catalog Stewardship
Today, Mountain Apple continues caring for an extensive library of Hawaiian and Polynesian recordings, helping keep decades of music accessible to contemporary listeners.
Artists & Creative Infrastructure
Artist Relationships
Mountain Apple’s history is intertwined with artists including Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole, The Brothers Cazimero, Brother Noland, Willie K, HAPA, Hawaiian Style Band, Amy Hanaialiʻi, Don Ho, Palani Vaughan, Jack de Mello, Rap Reiplinger and many others.
Production & Performance
Its work has extended beyond recordings into artist management, consulting, concert promotion, stage production and other parts of Hawaiʻi’s entertainment ecosystem.
Publishing
Music publishing remains part of Mountain Apple’s work, helping administer compositions and the rights that allow music to continue circulating responsibly.
Carrying Hawaiʻi’s Music Outward
Film & Television Licensing
Mountain Apple licenses recordings for film, television and other media, creating new opportunities for music connected to Hawaiʻi to reach audiences around the world.
New Generations
Digital platforms allow recordings made decades ago to live beside newly released music, giving younger listeners opportunities to encounter artists from generations before them.
Discovery
A song heard in a film, show or online can become the beginning of a much deeper journey into an artist, a catalog and Hawaii’s broader musical landscape.
Listen Deeper
If you arrive here because you know Bruddah IZ, keep going.
Listen to The Brothers Cazimero.
Listen to Brother Noland.
Listen to Willie K.
Listen to HAPA.
Listen to Hawaiian Style Band.
Listen to Amy Hanaialiʻi.
Explore the voices that came before.
Explore the artists who followed.
And whenever a song moves you, learn who made it.
Learn who wrote it.
Learn where it came from.
Learn what the words mean from trustworthy sources.
Learn about the people and places behind the recording.
Then support the artists and cultural practitioners carrying Hawaii’s music forward today.
Because discovering Hawaiʻi through music should never end with a playlist.
It can become the beginning of a relationship with the people, histories and places the music carries.
Connected Steward: Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole
One of the strongest connections within the Support Local Hawaii stewardship ʻohana is between Mountain Apple Company and Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole.
Their stories belong on separate pages.
But they should lead to one another.
IZ brought an extraordinary voice, spirit and perspective.
Mountain Apple helped produce and carry his solo recordings into the world and has continued caring for and sharing that musical legacy across generations.
Today, listeners can still move beyond “Over the Rainbow” into Facing Future, E Ala E, N Dis Life and the larger body of music Israel left behind.
That connection illustrates what a stewardship ecosystem can look like.
An artist creates.
People help the work take form.
Others help it travel.
Someone cares for what remains.
New listeners discover it.
And another generation receives something created before they arrived.
Discover the SLH Legacy Steward profile of Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole →
What We Inherit
There are recordings in Mountain Apple’s catalog made before many of today’s listeners were born.
Some of the people singing on them are no longer with us.
But press play—
and there they are.
A voice crosses decades in seconds.
A guitar rings again.
An ʻukulele sounds.
A harmony returns.
A laugh that once filled a studio enters another room.
Someone remembers.
Someone else discovers it for the first time.
That is one of music’s extraordinary gifts.
But recordings do not care for themselves.
Behind their continued life are people making decisions about archives, publishing, distribution, licensing, technology, context and access.
Done well, that work allows what one generation created to become part of what another generation inherits.
Mountain Apple Company has been doing that work in Hawaiʻi for more than half a century.
And the music is still moving.
Mahalo, Mountain Apple Company
Mahalo to Jon de Mello and to the generations of people who have contributed to Mountain Apple Company’s work.
Mahalo for the sessions.
The stages.
The albums.
The artwork.
The distribution.
The publishing.
The licensing.
The archives.
The relationships.
And the countless pieces of work most listeners will never see when they press play.
Most importantly, mahalo to the musicians, composers, cultural practitioners, families and communities whose gifts created the music in the first place.
They are the reason this catalog matters.
May their names remain connected to their work.
May their stories continue traveling with their songs.
May listeners keep going deeper.
And may Hawaiʻi continue supporting the artists, practitioners, producers, engineers, venues, teachers, archives and many hands that make a living musical culture possible.
The music belongs to more than one moment.
Care for it well, and it can become a bridge between generations.
That is legacy.
That is stewardship.
And that is something worth protecting.
Discover Mountain Apple Company
Organization: Mountain Apple Company
Home: Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi
Founded by: Jon de Mello
Serving Hawaiʻi’s music ecosystem: More than 50 years
Stewardship Areas: Hawaiian Music • Recorded Legacy • Music Publishing • Music Licensing • Artist Support • Cultural Connection
Current Focus: Recording Catalog • Music Publishing • Worldwide Licensing
Support Local Hawaii Recognition: ♦ Diamond Steward of Hawaiʻi
Explore the Music
Visit Mountain Apple Company to discover its artists and catalog, learn more about the company’s history, explore music, and find information about licensing.
Official Mountain Apple Company Website →
Connected on Support Local Hawaii
Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole — Legacy Steward of Hawaiʻi →
A voice Mountain Apple helped record and carry around the world — and a legacy that continues opening doors into Hawaiʻi for listeners across generations.
Support Hawaii’s Musicians & Cultural Practitioners →
Discover more of the people carrying Hawaii’s music, language, stories and cultural knowledge forward.
Listen deeper. Credit the artists. Learn where the music comes from. Support those carrying it forward.
