UH Hilo announces Season II of Ka Leo o ka Uluau podcast

The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo invites listeners to Season II of Ka Leo o ka Uluau, a podcast created to ho`okama`āina or acquaint listeners to Hawaiʻi Island. The podcast is named to honor a Hawaiian makani or wind of Hilo and to represent the conveyance of people’s voices and thoughts.

The second season consists of 12 episodes beginning in January 2022 with a shift from moʻolelo and kaʻao (stories) on Hawaiʻi Island to Hawaiian cultural practices that inform listeners how to meaningfully and sustainably interact with the place we live based on those traditional knowledge systems.

Season II episodes will be released throughout the year on the Hilo moon phase of every malama (lunar month) to raise awareness of this ancient yet relevant practice of keeping time and will feature guests who are knowledgeable in various Hawaiian cultural practices. These include ulana lau hala (lau hala weaving) with Gloria Pualani Muraki (January 2) and lawaiʻa pono (sustainable fishing) in Miloliʻi with Kaʻimi Kaupiko and Uʻilani Nāipo (February 3).

Podcast co-host Leilani DeMello, an alumnus of both Hawaiʻi Community College and UH Hilo, shares her hopes for the effort: “Season II of Ka Leo o ka Uluau will share traditional Hawaiian practices that are still very much alive and well in today's modern world. Hawaiian ways of thinking and doing are not something antiquated that you only read about in books. Through this podcast, I hope more people will learn about the connections that people and practice have to Hawaiʻi island.”

Her podcast co-host Drew Kapp, an instructor at HawCC and former lecturer at UH Hilo, adds: “This thematic shift from one season to the next should allow our listeners to build upon a foundation, set in 2021 and with moʻolelo wahi pana. In 2022 listeners will be exposed to and inspired by many different indigenous cultural practices rooted in place. Such practices are sustainability, beautifully manifested.”

Season II is made possible by grant support from UH Hilo’s Hanakahi Council, a campus-based caucus group of faculty and staff who are Native Hawaiian or associated with campus programs, colleges, or departments in Hawaiian Studies, Hawaiian language, or Hawaiian education or targeted to serve Native Hawaiian students.

Ka Leo o ka Uluau is live on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and all episodes are released through the podcast blog where other resources like guest biographies, photos, and glossaries are available.

Listen to Ka Leo o ka Uluau at: hilo.hawaii.edu/uluau/.