Catch Hawaiian yodeling at this year’s Kamehameha Schools Song Contest

This year, Kamehameha Schools freshmen will be singing a fun song about Kupa Landing on Hawaii island.
Published: Mar. 8, 2023 at 4:16 PM HST|Updated: Mar. 9, 2023 at 12:47 PM HST
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - This year, Kamehameha Schools freshmen will be singing a fun song about Kupa Landing on Hawaii island. And it will include something you may not have heard before: Hawaiian yodeling.

“It’s about how the paniolo would take the cattle to the Kupa Landing. They would put them on the steamships and they would take the cattle to different harbors,” said Brennen Agcaoili, freshmen director.

There’s also a deeper meaning.

SPECIAL SECTION: Kamehameha Schools Song Contest

“It’s really a song about how you love your home and that one place that you long to be,” he said.

The song features yodeling with quick high and low notes.

Agcaoili says he wanted to be freshmen song director to show leadership and make a positive impact.

This year’s Kamehameha Schools Song Contest celebrates songs of the Hawaiian cowboy

“You see your whole class looking at you paying attention and really trusting you to bring them in,” he said.

Besides being a song director, he’s an athlete and in the band.

Agcaoili says he’s grateful for his kumu (teachers) and coaches during this busy Song Contest season.

“They are so understanding and they give me a chance to be the best director that I can,” he said.

The Song Contest is set for this Friday on K5. Want to watch the livestream? Bookmark it here.

The pre-show begins at 7 p.m. with competition kicking off at 7:30 p.m.

With the 103rd Kamehameha Schools Song Contest approaching, alumni Mark Carpenter and Mahealani Richardson take a walk down memory lane.