When most performers step on stage inside their local coffee shop, they’re hoping that at least one stranger might sing along. They probably don’t even dream that the original singer of the cover they are performing might walk through the door and join them on the chorus.
That’s exactly what happened to Kekoa Alama, a native of Maui, Hawaii. Kekoa was performing “One Day,” the 2008 hit from Matisyahu, when a patron began singing along in full swing.
At the end of the song, Alama approached the patron for a handshake and remarked that he had a beautiful voice. The patron looked at him and asked “Do you know who wrote that song?” Kekoa responded “Matisyahu.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIoXhvyEYWY
The patron pointed at himself and said, “Me, I wrote this song.” It took a couple seconds for the statement to sink in, but when it did Alama exclaimed “Oh, Jesus.” Turns out Matisyahu was in Maui on tour, and he had stumbled into the coffeehouse by chance.
The video of Alama and Matisyahu was posted Monday, and it had received more than 68,000 views at press time. Alama took to Facebook to express his feelings of gratitude and happiness.
“I knew if I keep lighting up people’s lives every day regardless my situation at the time I would get the love I was so longing for,” Alama wrote. “Thanks Matisyahu and Stu Brooks for blessing me this way, words can’t begin to explain how much I needed this for my life.”