Festival showcases the humble ukulele’s international appeal

Chris Kamaka of Kamaka Ukulele plays bass with Ho'okena and will perform Sunday at the Ukulele Festival at Kapiolani Park. The group will also perform with Roy Sakuma's ukulele students. —Dennis Oda / doda@staradvertiser.com

The “little flea,” once considered a novelty instrument, has a bigger bite these days. That is reflected in this year’s Ukulele Festival, as Hawaii-born virtuosos are joined by national and international artists.

Festival founder and teacher Roy Sakuma will play with 800 or so students, along with performers from the mainland, the Pacific Rim and even Europe.

In addition to recognized musicians who have played in festivals past, including Jake Shimabukuro, Ohta-San and son Herb Ohta Jr., the veteran Na Hoku Hanohano Award-winning quartet Ho’okena will make its festival debut.

Ho’okena member Chris Kamaka — who also works in the family business, Kamaka Ukulele — said the band has been active, accompanying Sakuma and his wife, Kathy, on recent trips to Japan and performing at this year’s Maui Ukulele Festival.

Ho’okena was performing alongside Sakuma at Waikoloa when the veteran performer invited the band to take part in the Kapiolani Park event.

“We said, ‘Sure,’ because we had so much fun in Maui,” Kamaka said. “Besides playing our own songs, the band will also perform with Roy’s kids.”

AT KAMAKA UKULELE, demand for instruments “has been great,” Kamaka said. “Sales have been steady, and we’ve been taking on a lot more accounts this year and last from places like Thailand and Singapore.”

The small business that Kamaka’s grandfather started 95 years ago in a Kaimuki home garage has become an institution, with a client list that includes

Eddie Vedder, who played a Kamaka on his solo album “Ukulele Songs.”

“The guys from ‘Glee’ also bought one for the show,” said Kamaka. “Kina Grannis, Gerry Beckley from America, the Plain White T’s, Ziggy Marley and locally Kaimane, Paula Fuga, Kalei Gamiao, Brian Tolentino and Peter Moon Jr. all play Kamakas.”

The strong interest is reflected in growing attendance at ukulele showcases. “My cousin recently sent me an email about an ukulele festival in New Zealand that drew about 10,000 people,” Kamaka said. “That’s crazy. It’s fantastic that it’s taking off all over the place.”

In Honolulu this year’s guest lineup includes Ka’ala Carmack & the San Francisco J-Town Hui, and the Sunset Strummers, both from California; “Kolohe” Imamura from Japan; Singto Namchok from Thailand; Ukulele Picnic from Korea; the SACS Ukulele Club of Guam; and Australia’s Ukastle Ukestra.

Additional festival guests include singer-songwriter Victoria Vox, Luca “Jontom” Tomassini of Rome and David Chen of the Taiwan Ukulele Club.

Vox, a Berklee College of Music grad based in Baltimore, visited Hawaii in December 2005, playing 12 shows on Oahu and Maui. At that time the ukulele was her main instrument for three years after having put aside her guitar. She’s now closing in on eight years with the uke.

Calling in from Australia during a tour stop last week, Vox said she’d been playing ukulele festivals worldwide for six years, including the New York Uke Fest, “which I’ve played since its beginning.”

She’s been playing the ukulele since before it became an “it” instrument, and she’s proud of that.

“I like to think I’m part of the reason as to why the ukulele has had a resurgence,” she said. “As a songwriter it’s become an important instrument to me. … I’m hearing it being used in other music besides Hawaiian, like punk rock and jazz.”

Vox said she started playing the ukulele on a regular basis after a musician friend of hers heard her playing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” even before Israel Kamakawiwo’ole made it his own. “He gave me one of his from his collection. While I was playing it at home, my mom said I should play it in my shows, where it became a highlight. And when I did that Hawaii tour in ’05, I got sponsored by KoAloha.”

She’s a charming artist who says she’s gotten stronger as a songwriter and instrumentalist, featured on National Public Radio and various television and independent film projects. Her French-language tune “C’est Noye” won first place in the 2009 International Acoustic Music Awards.

FROM ELSEWHERE in the world, Italy’s Tomassini and Taiwan’s Chen came to the ukulele from different directions.

Checking in via email, Tomassini said he was a pianist at first and is self-taught.

“I’ve studied the piano for about 10 years, then orchestration, a little bit of blues harp, beat programming and most recently drums,” said Tomassini, “but the ukulele is the only one able to give me the vision of the ocean. It gives me peace and freedom every time I play. … I could keep practicing and smile for entire days.’”

Chen came to the ukulele via music therapy with kids, “most of them with autism or Asperger’s syndrome,” he said.

“When those kids hold (an) ukulele, they feel happy to sing, even though they cannot speak well.”

He’ll be part of a group of 24, most of them engineers or teachers. “I had been an engineer for 10 years but now am a full-time ukulele promoter,” he said. “Our group did more than 100 ukulele shows over the past three years, because it has changed our (lives), and also we have seen many good things happen.”

— Gary Chun / gchun@staradvertiser.com