One of the most complicated things in Hawaiian songwriting is the cherished tradition of kaona — the use of lyrics with secondary meanings that are known only by people who are close to the writer. A song that describes the beauty of a specific geographic place may do so with lyrics that tell that story perfectly, but which people who know the kaona will recognize as describing the beauty of a person who lives there, or perhaps referencing something romantic that occurred there.
Kumu hula Patrick Makuakane’s debut album, “KupuKupu,” is rich with kaona. What are those ferns on the CD cover? Why are they there? And why isn’t the album credited to Patrick Makuakane?
“I could go on and on about it,” Makuakane said, responding to all three questions. “(The) kupukupu (fern) was the only fern available to me to adorn the dancers when I moved here to San Francisco. We didn’t have all the stuff that we normally use, but we had kupukupu. We would never use it in Hawaii, but that’s all I had over here, and so I made it work. I’m just really appreciative of just being able to have something of Hawaii.”
“(The word) ‘kupukupu’ means to grow, to sprout, and I always like that idea of never stop growing, always exploring, and always discovering. We’re always ready to explore and discover and grow. Another meaning is ‘sprout’ or ‘upstart,’ so it has all these different meanings that work for it here.”
Many prominent na kumu hula have stepped forward as recording artists in the 41 years since Makuakane founded Na Lei Hulu i ka Wekiu in San Francisco. He never thought about joining them until record producers Pat and Scarlet Eskildsen asked if he’d thought about it.
“My joke was, ‘Well, if every other kumu hula does one, why can’t I?,’ Makuakane said. “But when Pat and Scarlet came up to me and asked, and they were serious, I thought it would be kinda cool, because they know that I had a contemporary edge and they were willing to work with that. Why not explore that side?”
“Usually, when I’m doing shows, I’m sort of taking music and manipulating it. This is the first time I was able to start from the ground up and pick songs that I actually loved and start with it from the beginning.”
And as for the decision to credit the album to “KupuKupu” and not to “Patrick Makuakane,” he says that’s because he doesn’t consider it a solo project.
“It’s a collaboration. Collaborations are great things if you’re able to really listen to one another and convey ideas. Everything on there is something that all of us liked, it’s not just one person’s ego, and that’s the idea about inviting other people to be on the album.”
“We want KupuKupu (as a group) to always be something where our friends will come out, people that we love, and who have distinct, interesting voices and perspectives. That’s the idea — always including them.”
Pat Eskildsen is the foundation of Makuakane’s studio orchestra; Scarlet Eskildsen also contributes musically and is the graphic designer. Their friends are Robert “Duke” Tatom (ukulele), Jesse Snyder (nose flute/clarinet/drums/sax), Josh Timmons (trumpet), Jenny Brown (trombone), Hokani Maria (piano). steel guitarists Dwight Tokumoto and Al Green, drummers Michael Surprenant and Sam Ites, and backing vocalists Ryna Fuimaono and Jason Laskey.
Makuakane and the Eskildsens also welcome three women as featured guest vocalists: Singer/songwriter Roslyn Catracchia and Na Hoku Hanohano Award winners Lihau Paik and Nani Lim Yap. Yap joins Makuakane on the lead-off track, a contemporary treatment of an ancient chant. Catracchia and Paik join Makuakane as the lead vocalists on “Maile Sisters,” a Makuakane original inspired by another ancient chant. Catracchia adds backing on another Makuakane original, “Ku‘u Sweetie Baby.”
“Nani provides this amazing element to that piece we really needed,” Makuakane said. “She brings a lovely kind of balance to that whole piece. It was very fortunate for us to have Nani singing on it.”
“Lihau has a really sensuous voice,” Makuakane said, comparing her to the late Haunani Kahalewai, a star of the Territorial Era. “(Kahalewai) had a husky female-sounding voice that you don’t hear often in Hawaiian music, and Lihau can do that too. We loved exploring that song with her. Roslyn is my writing partner for the Hi‘iaka project (‘The Epic Tale of Hi‘iaka”), and when she heard I was working on this album she told me she would love to do backup.”
“KupuKupu” is a finalist for Best Alternative Album at the 2026 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. The awards will be announced July 11 at the Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort.
Win or not, this is a big year for Makuakane. He was in Hawaii in May as the director and choreographer of Hawaii Opera Theatre’s precedent-setting Hawaiian-language opera, “Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree” in the Blasidell Concert Hall. In September he’ll back to oversee rehearsals for the Hawaiian Council’s production of “The Epic Tale of Hi‘iaka,” a ready-for- Broadway treatment of the classic Hawaiian epic about the conflict between Pele and her youngest sister, Hi‘iakaikapoliopele. It is scheduled to open Oct. 1 at Leeward Community College, and then move to Ko Olina in December.
Amy Hanaiali‘i, a multi- Na Hoku Hanohano Award- winner who also has musical theater credits, will star as Pele.
“Not many people can play that (role),” Makuakane said. “You have to have the ability to do guttural, earthy chanting, and then sing with a Broadway voice. That’s a range that a lot of female vocalists don’t have, so its very exciting (to work with someone who does).”
“We’ve been working on this a long time, so that will finally come to fruition at the end of the year.”
Throughout his decades as kumu hula of Na Lei Hulu i ka Wekiu, Makuakane has honored the hula traditions he learned from his teachers, na kumu hula Robert Cazimero and Mae Kamamalu Klein, while also creating a unique cross-cultural fusion he calls “hula mua” (“hula that evolves”) that adds haole (non-Hawaiian) music and dance styles to contemporary mainstream hula. Makuakane sees hula mua as a way of exploring the current frontiers of hula while still respecting its roots.
“I love our traditional dances and chants. I really get a lot of inspiration from them, but when you infuse them with something modern and contemporary, and it works, and it still has integrity — that feels kinda of cool.”