By Greg Olwell The ukulele has many cousins throughout the world. Since the ukulele evolved from the machête, a small instrument brought to Hawaii from the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, there are many similar stringed instruments throughout the lands colonized by the…
By Craig Chee The 2nd annual Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival was a fun-filled celebration of the ukulele, held at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, in Torrance, California, September 24. There were many more events this year including uke workshops,…
THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED
From the Fall 2014 issue of Ukulele | BY MARCY MARXER A visionary player on the ukulele, guitar, tenor banjo, and lap-steel guitar, the vaudeville performer Roy Smeck certainly earned his nickname “Wizard of the Strings.” Born in Reading, Pennsylvania…
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By Greg Olwell When Sara Watkins was recently touring in support of her latest solo album, Young In All the Wrong Ways (New West), the singer and fiddler from Nickel Creek showed up at our studio with a ukulele, an acoustic guitar, and…
There’s a long tradition of upcycling old cigar boxes into musical instruments. Over the decades, many homegrown builders have taken to making ukuleles, guitars, or just about anything else for strings with these lovely leftovers. While this is mostly been…
From the Fall 2016 issue of Ukulele | STORY AND PHOTOS BY SANDOR NAGYSZALANCZY When you think of ukuleles made on the American mainland during the “uke crazed” 1920s, brands such as Martin and Gibson are likely the first to…
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By Greg Olwell Before he came by our studio to play three songs for our “Ukulele Sessions Presents” video series, I’d been hearing a lot about Azo Bell. More than just buzz on a forum or YouTube chatter, some of today’s top…
By Greg Olwell For her finale performance on America’s Got Talent, the wildly popular Grace VanderWaal played “Clay,” onstage September 13. Like last week’s performance, the 12-year-old singer-songwriter from Suffern, New York was backed by a cellist, percussionist, and pianist. Watching…