Sometimes the smallest moments stay with you.
Roman De Peralta was just 15 when George “FIJI” Veikoso wrote two words on a napkin for him: Keep Jamming.
Nearly 20 years later, those words sit at the heart of Kolohe Kai’s new single “Keep Jamming”, featuring rising Hawaiian artists Wavvy.
Growing up on Oʻahu, Roman was still a teenager when Kolohe Kai started making music. Seventeen years later, songs including “Ehu Girl”, “Cool Down” and “Heartstrings” have travelled far beyond Hawaiʻi, helping Kolohe Kai build a worldwide audience and pass more than one billion streams across digital platforms.
Through all of that, Roman never forgot what FIJI had written to him.
When he finally turned those words into a song, the plan was for FIJI to be part of it. Roman wrote and recorded the track and sent it to him. FIJI loved the idea and was going to write his own verse, but sadly passed away before they had the chance to finish it together.
For a while, Roman wasn’t sure what to do with the song.
Then came Wavvy.
Inviting one of Hawaiʻi’s new generation of reggae artists onto “Keep Jamming” meant the encouragement FIJI had given Roman as a 15-year-old could now be passed on.
“Just as this beautiful saying, ‘Keep Jamming’, was passed on to me at a young age, I hope it encourages the next generation of musicians and singers to keep creating, keep playing and keep carrying music forward,” says Roman.
“I’d just love to see more kids jamming ʻukulele on the side of the road, at the beach, instead of stuck on their phones.”
There was another connection Roman didn’t know about when he invited Wavvy onto the song.
Wavvy had been at Kolohe Kai’s Paradise album release concert at around the same age Roman was when FIJI handed him that napkin. In their verse, Wavvy shares how Kolohe Kai’s song “The Right Thing” helped give them direction in their own life.
“Hearing them sing how my song, ‘The Right Thing’, gave them direction in life made me tear up,” Roman says. “None of us could ever inspire another artist the way FIJI did, but to have a small role in passing my little torch brings me joy.”
FIJI can be heard in the song too.
Towards the end of “Keep Jamming”, Roman draws on some of the familiar melodies he grew up hearing in FIJI’s music. Recording them was one of the most emotional parts of making the track.
“I had this indescribable feeling of absolute disbelief while singing some of Uncle FIJI’s melodies,” he says. “It was such an honour to incorporate some of his hooks in a song inspired by the words he wrote to me so long ago. It felt full circle.”
“Keep Jamming” is Roman’s mahalo to FIJI and the artists who helped shape him, but it’s also for the young musicians coming through behind them. Pick up an instrument. Make something of your own. Enjoy making music. Keep jamming.
It’s a simple message, and one that feels true to Kolohe Kai.
Despite 17 years of music, more than a billion streams and shows around the world, it still comes back to what started everything: young friends in Hawaiʻi getting together and playing music.
Last year brought the 15-track What Aloha Means, collaborations with The Green, SOJA, FIA and the Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus, and a US amphitheatre tour that finished back home at the Waikīkī Shell. Earlier this year, Kolohe Kai put their own island reggae take on Boyz II Men’s “On Bended Knee”.
Now “Keep Jamming” starts what comes next, with more original music already on the way.
And almost two decades after FIJI first wrote those words down, Roman is still following the advice.
He’s just passing it on.
Kolohe Kai feat. Wavvy – “Keep Jamming” is out now on all streaming platforms.