Arts & Entertainment

South OC Singers Win Reality TV Show Cash

Two brothers, one from San Clemente and one from San Juan Capistrano, take home $50,000 Monday night.

By Cleo Tobbi

And the winner is of The Winner Is ... San Clemente's the Kalama Brothers.

Well, not of the $1 million prize, but $50,000 is a nice consolation.

The Hawaiian fusion band local to San Clemente was featured Monday night on a new singing reality TV show, NBC's "The Winner Is."

Hosted by Nick Lachey, "The Winner Is" takes a handful of musicians from around the country and puts them to the test in hopes of winning $1 million. What makes "The Winner Is" different from shows like "American Idol" or "The Voice" is the unique rules and judging system.

The contestants must “put their money where their mouth is,” and duel against each other in front of 101 judges. They must sing six songs and if they can impress the mix of judges and one unknown celebrity guest judge, the money is theirs.

Ryan and Kai Kalama, lifetime lovers and practitioners of a variety of music, found themselves on "The Winner Is" stage in front of the 101 judges and nation of viewers.

Kai, who lives in San Juan Capistrano, had some experience on the national stage with his run on Season 8 of "American Idol." Ryan of San Clemente, on the other hand, despite being the older brother, is new to the spotlight.

After years of experience working both individually and together, the brothers remain a bit nervous before every performance. To combat the jitters, they say the pray to the gods of rock n’ roll.

Taught by their parents, the brothers received both casual and professional music lessons. Their mother, a former choir director, would teach her sons the technical terms and practices of singing while their father guided them by always carrying a tune.

“Our entire family would always be singing,” the two said. “There was no escaping it.”

In fact, Ryan and Kai are not the original Kalama Brothers. Their father and uncle were the creators of the band and Kai and Ryan kept it alive.

Although they played their first show at the ages of 8 and 5, Ryan and Kai didn’t begin to take their music seriously until their early 20s. The brothers have both mastered the ukulele and have trained their voices for all styles of music.

The two didn’t find too much trouble fusing drastically different musical styles. The brothers looked up to bands like the mainstream Nirvana, Green Day, and Weezer, and Hawaiian artists like The Makaha Sons and the Brothers Cazimero. Also being “Daft Punk-obsessed,” the brothers added a loop pedal to their repertoire.

Now that they've won $50,000, the Kalama Brothers plan to put the money toward getting out of debt and making a more comfortable life for their families. Had he won the big prize, Kai  was dreaming of hiring The Scorpions to play for his girlfriend’s birthday.

But the brothers did not start making music in hope of making money.

“We never knew any other way,” they said. “We just love it.


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