Uke Scene: Players from Europe and America Connect via Four-String

BY JIM D’VILLE |  FROM THE SUMMER 2025 ISSUE OF UKULELE MAGAZINE

“Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand.” So states Stevie Wonder in his No. 1 single from 1977, “Sir Duke.” And what better way to expand our musical vocabulary than by exposure to musicians from other cultures? To wit, some pro ukulele players from the U.S. and Europe have been inviting each other to their homelands to share their music with new audiences, as well as give their own fans a taste of another country’s take on ukulele.

Austria

Take what happened to Nashville musicians Bob Tigert and Lisa Webb after meeting Juliana Stepaniak and Tina Niederpold. Stepaniak and Niederpold perform as the uke-led trio Calico, with Stepaniak’s husband, Albert, accompanying on bass. According to Tigert, “We met Calico in 2022 at a festival in Virginia, and our mutual admiration created all the momentum needed to pursue playing with them in Europe.” The idea of sharing a bill with Calico came to fruition last fall when Tigert and Webb performed at the Vienna Nights Ukulele Festival. It seems to be only the beginning of a larger cultural exchange program.

 After meeting Tigert and Webb and seeing them perform, Stepaniak knew she wanted them to play at their festival in Vienna. “With Lisa’s great voice and the improvising that Bob does, we thought that they would go over well. The audience might not understand the lyrics, but seeing seasoned musicians from Nashville—we could sell that.”

Niederpold adds, “We connected with Bob and Lisa via our love for American songs. I love to sing the American songbook and the jazz of the ’30s, and when they got off the plane in Vienna, within 20 minutes we had our ukes out playing ‘Sentimental Journey,’ and it was just magic.”

In June, Calico will again hop across
the pond to join the Webb-Tigert Duo on the Ukuleles in the Heartland tour, gracing stages in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. “The idea was to share 
both of our unique musical perspectives with a completely new audience,” says Tigert. “Juliana and Tina bring a style to the table I had not heard before.” Tigert and Webb’s eventual goal is to expand their Ukuleles in the Heartland tour by featuring visiting European artists and looking to book American artists in Europe.

“I could never have dreamt of playing in Nashville or touring that part of the United States,” says Stepaniak. “It’s mind-blowing. I still can’t wrap my head around it!”

Italy

Another across-the-pond contact for Tigert and Webb is ukulele artist Lorenzo Vignando, aka Ukulollo, who hails from Italy. Vignando introduced himself and his unique style to the ukulele community in a 2009 YouTube video of Ravel’s “Bolero” featuring recordings of him playing seven parts—five on ukulele—synced up together. “I had been to ukulele festivals in the U.S., but only as an attendee. The 2012 San Diego Ukulele Festival was my first gig as a professional,” says Vignando. “That weekend I met American Julia Nunes, a very famous ukulele player on YouTube. She was the person that inspired me to take up the ukulele in the first place!”

Vignando, who now tours the U.S. every few years, appreciates the differences between American and European music. “Touring the United States has shown me the cultural differences, but also highlighted the similarities between the American and European approach to popular music,” he says. “In Europe, the music has a classical foundation, while in the States it’s blues and jazz. When you hear a gospel choir, for example, you will know if they are American or not.”

Webb and Tigert met Ukulollo and Calico at the same fruitful festival. “Suddenly we’re building all these reciprocal relationships with our new European friends,” says Webb. The next year saw Tigert and Webb booking Vignando at their monthly Nashville gig at the Homegrown Taproom. The exchange has worked both ways: working with Calico, Vignando was able to arrange for Tigert and Webb to perform in Italy as well.

More Connections

Another strong Euro-American connection is the duo of Dutch performer Ukulelezaza and American singer-songwriter Sage Harrington.

It’s no stretch to say that Ukulelezaza is one of Europe’s great ukulele players. Performing under this flashy stage name, Remco Houtman-Janssen creates excellent ukulele arrangements of 1920s and ’30s jazz and classic Hawaiian tunes a la Sol Hoopi. He first visited the United States in 2018 for a series of gigs in Minnesota and Wisconsin organized by his friend Corey Mohan. He visited again the next year, performing at the Midwest Ukulele and Harmonica Camp, followed by an extensive East Coast tour.

Houtman-Janssen notes some differences between ukulele events in the U.S. and Europe. “Festivals in the U.S. seem to be primarily focused on workshop after workshop after workshop, and a tiny bit of performing,” he says. “The festivals here in Europe are mostly about booking artists that come to play.”

Harrington went a step further—she didn’t just book some shows in Europe, she moved there. “I moved to Europe to deepen my appreciation of American music,” she says. “So now I’m surrounded by European musicians playing American music, but in a European way.”

Houtman-Janssen has a different take on the origins of the songs he plays. “I mostly play early 20th-century music, but I don’t think of it as American music—more like music from a certain era,” he says. “The only time I think about where a piece of music originates is when I’m working up Hawaiian music.”

And just like that, the little ukulele continues to create musical bridges that unite musicians and listeners worldwide. Says Harrington, “I think if you could connect yourself via six degrees of ukulele separation, you could connect yourself to the rest of the world.”