Karl Veto Baker and Michael Casupang share kumu hula leadership of Halau I Ka Wekiu, which is marking its 10th anniversary with a Hawaiian spectacle tomorrow. Their haumana (students) call them KUmZ, shorthand for two kumu (kums).

Two are better than one, they say, in a Q&A:

Q. Life is a journey and your "Listen to Your Heart" CD enables listeners to "live" through your travels that you share in song. How important is setting and environment in inspiring the music you compose?

A. The setting and the environment are vital to our compositions. When we go to historical places throughout Hawai'i, and we feel and see what our kupuna have experienced in their lifetime, it's like a shot in the arm with adrenaline, and such a rush. If our students are a part of the huaka'i, or excursion, it becomes even more compelling for us to write and document the joy and love that we receive from them.

Q. With two kumu, what are the pluses and the minuses? How do you split responsibilities — does one create the music and the other the lyrics? And is there a formula — does the Hawaiian come first, then the translation?

A. For us, two kumu are very positive and it's because we were both trained by the same kumu (Robert Cazimero), so our genealogy and style are very much the same. We both have demanding real jobs, so we would not have been able to accomplish what we've done in halau these past 10 years with just one kumu.

With most of our musical collaborations, it's like Rodgers and Hammerstein. Michael does most of the lyrics and will compose in Hawaiian, and Veto will compose most of the melodies. Michael is the poet even when he writes in English. Veto is more of a memo kind of writer. Michael will write the poetry and Veto will look at the poetry and come up with the melody. Strange but it works. ...

Q. What kind of impact has winning the Merrie Monarch Festival (four first places and overall festival award) made on your personal lives and on the halau? And do you intend to get competitive any time soon?

A. The Merrie Monarch has been instrumental in our growth because we use this vehicle to grow in many facets. We choose dances which will allow us to learn and grow. The growth will be for the kumu as well as the haumana.

The sense of excellence transpires from being in halau into our students' daily lives. This is very important to us. We did not think we would cop the top honors by the time we are 10 years old; if we stay true to who we are and try to do our very best, then that is the true trophy. We will be back at the festivals in 2009 with our wahine and a Miss Aloha Hula entrant. We have decided to alternate in taking our kane and wahine to the festivals.