Archive for April, 2010

Celebration of May Day by Wahiawa

Friday, April 30th, 2010

On May 1 at Wahiawa Town Center parking lot, the Wahiawa community will have a community gathering to celebrate May Day. This will be a celebration for the entire afternoon with free entertainmet. By 11:00 AM the dances of Halau Hula o Leilehua from the Leilehua High School will present their number under the big white tent. At 12:15 PM, the famous Royal Hawaiian Band will perform their special May Day program which will be sponsored by the Wahiawa Business as well as Community Association.

The celebration also offers free entertainment at 1:15 AM as with Iliahi Elementary’s Na Kamali’i O ‘Iliahi with present featuring 50+ keiki Ukulele musicians. By 2:15 will be the finale of the activity as a lot of talented individuals of Wahiawa Middle School Lancer Jazz Band will present their prepared number. This special event is a community programs with compliments from the Wahiawa Shopping Center as well as Wahiawa Town Center merchants on California Avenue.

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Woolston to Lead Londoners to a Ukulele Craze

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Spending a Wednesday night while playing a ukulele seems like an average thing to do yet one woman is wishing to create a trend that will spread across London up to Warrington. This woman is Lorraine Bow, originally from Paddington, has a ukulele band who also teaches classes in Lewisham schools right after transferring to London when she was still 23 years old.

Frank Skinner, a famous comedian, joined Lorraine on one of her karUke nights while filming a documentary about George Formby who is a famous banjo player. Lorraine stated that they started a jam night during Wednesday s in the corner of Soho pub with only 15 people yet it now continues to grow in number. They broke the record for the most ukulele players in one area with 852 ukulele players and a song as the top 1 in the American itunes chart wherein it features this excellent instrument. Former students of Woolston High School are wishing to bring her karUke night to Warrington. Plus, they wish to have a karaoke along with a live ukulele backing band as well as start teaching ukulele classes there as well.

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Ukulele Festival of Great Britain will be held at Cheltenham

Monday, April 26th, 2010

Frank Skinner, a famous celebrity, is one of the many celebrities who have learned to play the ukulele. Cheltenham is to become the home of the first Ukulele Festival of Great Britain. A lot of top players of ukulele from Europe as well as America will be featured during weekends starting on June.

Workshops will also be held for both adults as well as children, together with jam sessions, mass busking, a cabaret or open mic night, stalls, raffle and a lot more. The rise in the ukulele’s popularity is brought about by Frank Skinner as well as Harry Hill’s step of learning how to play this instrument.

This festival was put up by Phil Collins and his 4 other friends since they all know how to play ukulele as well as they reside in Cheltenham. The organizers are hopeful to sell approximately 600 tickets for the main event in Cheltenham Town Hall this coming June 20, 2010, Sunday.

A guy who is part of the group was the one who taught Harry Hill to play the ukulele. It can be noticed that a lot of these famous celebrity and ukulele players are comedians since they consider it a fun little instrument. The Ukulele of Great Britain will take place in Cheltenham on June 19 to 20, 2010.

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Ukulele Celebration Week Celebrated At Haines

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Toutai Pasi, a master musician as well as a band leader arrived on Hanes last April 21 to celebrate the new tradition in Southeast Alaska entitled the Ukulele Celebration Week. Pasi is to assist Kalani Kanahele, locally known as Mr. K, the ukulele player and teacher in leading some students as well as adult participants in a series of events during the entire celebration.

Kanahele directs an after-school and in-class ukulele program at the Haines School which started last October 2009. Every morning, he teaches first and second grade students about chords and songs. On Friday, he as well leads an after-school program which is open to all community members.

Toutai Pasi originally resides at the island of Tonga located in the South Pacific yet recently lives in Sacramento, California. He went to different places in the world to perform along with different bands and dance groups including Cane Fire and This Is Polynesia. At present, he leads as well as performs with the South Sea Coral.

The Ukulele Celebration Week will comprise of classroom sessions along with Pasi and Kanahele, with evening workshops intended for the community members as well as jam sessions open to all ukulele and guitar players.

A potluck luau will be held as a culmination activity starting at 4:30 PM on April 24 at the Haines School cafeteria. At 6:30 PM, a Ukulele Extravaganza Concert will take place at the Chilkat Center for the Arts. As an opening performance, the students will be performing which will be followed by a performance by Pasi and Kanahele.

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Eleuke Sponsors Ukulele Contest with $15,000 Worth of Cash Prizes

Monday, April 19th, 2010

The Eleuke, one of the most famous manufacturers as well as the makers of the original solid body electric ukulele, will be hosting a ukulele contest and will be giving away $15,000 cash prizes. The contestants will be Eleuke players around the world. The cash prize for this contest is actually the biggest giveaway in the ukulele industry. The champion of the said contest will be awarded $5,000. There will be different categories from newbies to professional with designated prices which will allow everyone to have a chance to win. The contest will start from June 1, 2010 up to October 31, 2010.

All Uke players all over the globe are encouraged to join the contest and enter a YouTube video with their Eleuke. For those ukulele players who don’t own yet an Eleuke, then they can find the list of dealers in the EleukeUSA’s site.

There will be 8 cash prize category in this said contest. Each video will be judged according to their creativity as well as entertainment value. These videos may either be taken in their respective bedrooms or even in a roller coaster. It may be performed solo or with your friends.

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A Boom in Ukulele Industry in Norwich

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

In Norwich, the ukulele is now going through a rebirth in its popularity which is according to a local charity. Because of this resurgence, the local charity is now offering more ukulele courses to meet the demand of those eager to learn the ukulele.

Community Music East (CME), on Music House Lane, is offering courses for newbies as well as for improvers which will be starting later this month. This will take place because a lot of people want to learn to play the instrument. According to Clara Gauntlett from CME, the ukulele has been popular over the past years and until at present, they still get calls from people who are eager to learn. Because it only has 4 strings, the ukulele is a great instrument for newbies to start with since it will be relatively easy to learn and play. Plus, ukuleles as well are inexpensive, portable and very pleasing to the ears.

Their beginners’ course is appropriate for individuals who are new to playing a musical instrument plus it covers all the basic lessons like tuning, chords as well as posture. For the improvers’ course, this is suitable for individuals who are a bit experience and covers strumming techniques, song writing as well as a chance to increase your range.

A local music shop is also currently experiencing a remarkable increase in their sales of the ukulele over the past few months. According to Tristan Burfield, from the Music Room shop, the ukulele has turned out to be increasingly popular which may be brought about by the success of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain which performed in Norwich. The instrument at present also comes in different choices plus the quality as well has improved.

CME’s Ukulele for Beginners will begin on April 20, from 10am to midday while Ukulele for Improvers starts April 19 from 7pm to 9pm. Both courses will cost £75 (£50 concessions) which will last for 6 weeks.

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The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra visits Hawke’s Bay the Second Time Around

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, a famous entertainment group, is packing their ukuleles, vocal chords as well as vintage threads for their upcoming autumn tour at New Zealand. The group will stop in Hawke’s Bay on April 15, Thursday.

The band is coming back this April since a lot of their fans missed out their concert last October 2009 which was also held at the Hawkes Bay Opera House. The group is famous for their harmonious as well as hilarious renditions of both conventional and contemporary music.

A lot of people regarded the group’s performance last October as a treat to their listeners. However, the second time they will be presenting will be considered as a treasure hunt with all the fun the audience will find all throughout the concert.

The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra has three CDs, a vinyl release as well as a soundtrack. Surely, this is a ukulele group sweeping the whole country. A few of their members were lured with the instrument because of the unique Pacific sound while others for its simplicity.

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“The Mighty Uke” at Webster University

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

A strummy documentary entitled “The Mighty Ukulele” is going to have its screening this Friday to Sunday evenings at Webster University. A lot of people consider this as the most unlikely comeback in musical history by the ukulele which is regarded as an underdog instrument.

Ukulele is recognized as the miniature cousin of the guitar. It is hard to argue whenever the ukulele is being played because of the music it generates. The ukulele is also considered as one of the friendliest instruments and actually considered as the most user friendly from all other instruments which may be the reason behind the current rebirth in the fame of ukuleles.

The ukulele didn’t originate in Hawaii. It was introduced in 1875 by the Portugese settles from the island of Madeira. The king of Hawaii named King Kalakaua invited the settles and found that little stringed instrument adds festive flavor during parties. At present, ukuleles are used in schools for music appreciation.

“The Might Uke” will have its screening this Friday to Sunday at 7:30 pm in Moore Auditorium at the Webster University. The university is located at 470 East Lockwood Avenue. The admission for the general public will cost $6.

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