Austin Ukulele Society

Get to Know the Austin Ukulele Society

By Amber von Nagel Ukulele players have a reputation for being quirky and expressive, so it’s no surprise that Austin, Texas, a city known for its quirkiness and expressiveness, would be home to such a large and devoted group of…

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Rod Harrington

Tampa Bay Ukulele Society

By Julie Garisto On a balmy Saturday afternoon in Largo, Florida, a southern suburb of Tampa, 40 people have gathered with their ukuleles at a palm tree dotted apartment complex inhabited mostly by retirees. Excitedly chattering like high-school kids in…

A 5-string rajao, made by Augusto Dias around 1896, with spruce top and koa back and sides

The Birth of the Ukulele

The belief that Hawaii lays sole claim to the ukulele is a widely held misconception. The earliest ukes only date back to the mid-1880s, and they weren’t invented by the Hawaiians.

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Family and friends remember Dang at a memorial in Hawaii.

Aloha, Edgar Dang

At Aloha Warehouse in San Francisco’s historic Japantown, co-owner Edgar Dang spread his love of Hawaiian music and culture—one ukulele at a time. This winter, Dang unexpectedly passed away in his sleep, at age 56, but his vision and legacy…