MauiGuidebook.com 
Full story on npr.org
“In Hawaii, we talk about this thing we call mana,” says musician Del Beazley, who grew up with Israel and wrote two of his songs. “Mana is like an energy that you get. We believe we get ours from the elements first, the Earth, your sky, your ocean, your God, and all that is inside of us. And when we open our mouth to speak, to sing or to play, that’s what we let out. But it’s that that makes him [Israel] special, because his mana always came out.”
A wonderful story about Bruddah Iz on NPR – check it out online here: Israel Kamakawiwo’ole: The Voice Of Hawaii.