By Greg Olwell On our soundtrack for the Fourth of July is this rendition of “America the Beautiful” by Jake Shimabukuro. Competing with Jake’s sensitive playing here is the location: Garden of the Gods a National Natural Landmark in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
By Greg Olwell On the 20th anniversary of his death on June 26, 1997, we are thinking of the legendary Iz Kamakawiwo’ole. In this official video for “White Sandy Beach of Hawaii” off his 1993 album Facing Future, Bruddah Iz performs his rendition on…
By Jim D’Ville // Photos by James Millar and Linda Grist D’Ville As an American who has never been to Scotland, arriving at the Ukulele Festival of Scotland was like entering a magical, musical ukulele utopia. This year’s festival took place…
By Greg Olwell “After I lost my hearing, I gave up,” said Mandy Harvey, as she stood in front of the judges of a popular television talent show to introduce her song “Try,” adding, “But I want to do more…
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By Jim D’Ville /// Photos by Stewart Dean, imagovitae.org Just 100 miles north of the cacophony that is New York City, lie the tranquil Catskills Mountains, home to the Ashokan Ukulele Festival. Now in its fifth year, the festival is held…
Text by Jim D’Ville ¦ Photos by Roberta Piazza Gordon You talk about your oh, how happy campers! The 7th annual West Coast Ukulele Retreat was held on the beautiful Monterey peninsula at the historic Asilomar State Beach and Conference Center in Pacific…
By Greg Olwell The best in Hawaiian music was celebrated at the 40th annual Ha Noku Hanohano award show in Honolulu, Saturday May 20. The awards, which are sometimes referred to as the “Hawaiian Grammys,” focus on Hawaiian artists. It’s…
By Jim D’Ville | From the Winter 2016 issue of Ukulele When I started on the ukulele, I could not identify the chord changes in a song simply by listening. I learned the changes from written materials. A more apt…
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By Jim D’Ville / Photos by Kelly Anderson The 9th Annual Reno Ukulele Festival, “the biggest little ukulele festival in the West,” was held at the Nugget Hotel and Casino in Sparks, Nevada, April 6-9, 2017. As always, producer Doug…
By Greg Olwell For decades, Ledward Kaapana has delighted audiences with his music. Masterful, virtuosic, and always fun, the native Hawaiian guitarist and ukulele player specializes in playing the islands’ unique slack-key style, which uses open tunings to create sounds otherwise…