Archives: Performers

Imagine a room full of musicians playing all sorts of old-timey, bluegrass and folk melodies. Yet amidst the expected mass of mandolins, gaggle of guitars, bunch of banjos and fistful of fiddles there are—not one, but—two ukuleles!

Who goes to Hayward (California) to play the ukulele? Thousands of us did on April 29—and if you weren’t there, you missed an event that’s as rich in Hawaiian culture as it is in four-string delights. Held at the Hayward Adult Learning Center, this year’s event was the 14th annual, making it the longest-running (and oldest!) ukulele festival on the mainland. This festival has a true ohana feel. While some of the out-of-the-auditorium jamming was definitely non-island oriented (Beatles, anyone? Petula Clark? John Denver?), the performers inside are members of the many Bay Area-based ukulele schools and clubs and their performance repertoire was almost entirely Hawaiian (including contemporary and hapa haole as well as some lovely old melodies that just made me sigh and want to collapse beneath a coconut palm).

I realized at our last meeting of Ukuleles of Paradise that a lot of folks have only a minimal knowledge of Hawaiian music. It’s just not something they’re familiar with or have heard much (if at all!). To help remedy that, I’ve written a very brief primer on the topic, “Learning About Hawaiian Music” and […]