HONOLULU -- Michael Nakasone, who has served as bandmaster of Honolulu's Royal Hawaiian Band for the past five and a half years, retires next week.

He steps down the same year the city council considered cutting the band out of the city budget because of tough financial times.

"I truly love the job. I would do it again. It has truly been wonderful," Nakasone said.

The Royal Hawaiian Band is the oldest and the only full-time band funded by city taxpayers in the country.

Nakasone was appointed bandmaster by then-newly-elected Mayor Mufi Hannemann in 2005. Since then, Nakasone said the band increased the number of annual performances by approximately 23 percent to 320.

"Every place the band goes, people are very happy. We bring music from the monarchy to the public today," he said.

Nakasone, 65, is retiring at the end of next week. He spoke to KITV 4 News Friday afternoon at Iolani Palace's bandstand, where he's presided over concerts nearly every Friday for the last five and a half years.

He said he needs to spend more time with his aging mother. "I'll spend some time on the Big Island with my mom who's going to be 90 years old. She has raised me very well, made sure I got music lessons," Nakasone said.

His musical education began as an elementary student at Waiakeawaena Elementary School outside Hilo on the Big Island, where he played in a large ukulele band in the 1950s.

A band director and public school teacher for 36 years before joining the city to head the Royal Hawaiian Band, he tripled the number of the band's concerts at schools.

"The young students are the future of Hawaii and they should be exposed to the beautiful music of Hawaii's monarchy," said Nakasone.

The Royal Hawaiian Band has a rich history, starting in the 1836 under King Kamehameha III. The band became a staple of island life, performing for state occasions, funerals and parades.

Today, it's a city agency with an annual budget of more than $1.7 million and 40 full-time employees. Five of the 38 musicians’ positions are vacant because of city budget cuts, Nakasone said.

Council members considered getting rid of the band to save money this year, but kept the band in the city operating budget. Nakasone said he's confident the city will never stop funding the band.

He said once he retires, he will continue advocating for the band and would testify and lobby against any efforts to reduce the band’s budget or to shut down operations.

"This organization has to survive into the next century and onwards," he said. "This music cannot die. This is the history, the power of music from our past that should continue forever. The Royal Hawaiian Band brings quality of life to all of the residents in the state of Hawaii."

Nakasone conducts his final concert of the band next Wednesday, July 28, at Ala Moana's Centerstage, beginning at 2 p.m.

He said an interim bandmaster will oversee the band until a new Honolulu mayor elected in the special election Sept. 18 chooses the next bandmaster.