In 1971, Roy Sakuma was a young man with a dream.
Ukulele was his passion and his teacher, Herb “Ohta-san” Ohta, was one of the great virtuosos of the instrument, but back then the ukulele was known primarily as a rhythm instrument used in Hawaiian music. Sakuma wanted to remind Hawaii — and the world — that the ukulele could be a lead instrument, and that it could play almost any type of music.
While working as a groundskeeper for the City and County of Honolulu, Sakuma thought up a plan to do just that: A free concert at the Kapiolani Park Bandstand.
Sakuma took the idea to Moroni Medeiros, culture and arts coordinator with the city Department of Parks and Recreation. With Medeiros’ support, the young groundskeeper presented the 1st Annual Ukulele Festival Hawaii at the bandstand.
“I credit Ohta-san with teaching me how to play the ukulele with all the different genres of music,” Sakuma said during a recent telephone conversation. “I wanted to show the real pure joy of playing the instrument. And it was amazing because that first year I asked entertainers to come out, and they were willing to support this event because it was to open it up.”
Sakuma’s optimism in calling it the 1st Annual Ukulele Festival Hawaii proved well-founded.
The festival quickly became one of Honolulu’s biggest annual events. Before the pandemic, the festival drew 10,000 to 14,000 attendees each year.
Almost every resident ukulele player of note has played it at least once. Young musicians looked forward to being a part of it. As years passed, Sakuma welcomed guest musicians from the mainland and Canada, as well as from Asia, Europe, Australia, Oceania and Latin America.
>> RELATED: Jim Beloff’s new book provides illustrated history of modern ukulele
This year, Sakuma, 75, is presenting the virtual 52nd Annual Ukulele Festival Hawaii as a one-hour special simulcast at 7 p.m. July 17 on the festival’s Facebook page and on KHNL; it will re-air at 7 p.m. July 21 on K5.
Unfortunately, this year will be the last one.
“Kathy and I have been thinking of this for several years,” Sakuma explained, referring to his wife, who is the festival’s vice president. “We thought maybe the 50th would be our final year, but with the pandemic we wanted to keep pushing forward. But, I’m not getting younger, and Kathy said something which was really meaningful. She told me that my dream has come true. I wanted to show people that the instrument was not just to accompany (other instruments), and we have.
“I can recall so many times people at the festivals would come up to me and say, ‘Can I learn to play ukulele?’ I’d say, ‘Of course you can.’ It just started to spread, and people came (to the festivals) from all over the world.”
This year’s performers
This year’s final lineup of Hawaii performers include Ohta-San and Herb Ohta Jr., Danny Kaleikini, Kama Hopkins, Halehaku Seabury, Bryan Tolentino, Natalie Ai Kamauu and Paula Fuga. Sakuma will co-host with Jake Shimabukuro.
Shimabukuro, 45, grew up with the ukulele and with the festival. His first teacher was his mother. His second was Tami Akiyama (now Omoro), one of Sakuma’s instructors. He was “7 or 8” when he played his first festival and met Sakuma at the bandstand.
“Getting ready for the festival performance was always the highlight of the year,” Shimabukuro said on a recent call from England, where he was in the middle of a European tour. “I remember the first time my teacher Tami asked me to join the instructors on a song. I’ll never forget it. It was such a proud moment for me because I was 9 or 10 years old and I got to be up there with the instructors and play alongside of them. I remember being so nervous, but it was truly a highlight.”
Other highlights include the year that he guested with his group Pure Heart, and then the years he returned as a solo star and stayed afterward to meet fans and sign autographs for them.
“Those are full circle moments. I felt so proud to come back. That was, that was special.”
Herb Ohta Jr. has a more circular relationship with the festival. Ohta-san was a single parent and Ohta Jr. would wait backstage while his father was onstage.
“I was young — 6, 7, 8 years old — and he thought it was the safest place for me,” Ohta Jr. said. “They had food all the time there and I got to snack all the time. And I remember meeting Jesse Kalima and Moe Keale, great local players like my dad, and Eddie Kamae and Lyle Ritz, people that paved the way for musicians like Jake and I. It was great experience to listen to the instrument played by people who were masters in their own right.”
Ironically, Ohta Jr. almost didn’t become a professional musician. He was 3 when his father started teaching him. When he was 12, Ohta-san decided that his son wasn’t serious about the instrument. The lessons stopped.
Six years later, his interest rekindled, Ohta Jr. saved up the money it would cost to buy a quality instrument and asked his father to buy it for him. When Ohta-san was convinced that his son was serious, the lessons resumed.
Looking back over a career of more than three decades that includes seven Na Hoku Hanohano Awards for his work as a recording artist and record producer, Ohta Jr. said that one of his memorable performances was when his father invited him to share the stage at the ukulele festival in 1990. He had proven himself worthy in his father’s eyes.
Ohta Jr. had a “day job.” That day, he went to the bandstand straight from work.
“It was the first time for me to actually go onstage and perform (with my father). I think I looked kind of rude onstage because I had sunglasses because I was so tired, but that particular performance stands out.”
Jumping forward a generation, Kylie Alarcon, 20, a Sakuma student for seven years, said she enjoyed playing at the festivals because it strengethened the bonds between teachers and students, and brought the community together to enjoy the music.
Alarcon, a psychology major at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, discovered the ukulele in 2013 when she encountered some of Sakuma’s students during rehearsals at the ProBowl.
“I remember watching them and immediately telling my parents that this is exactly what I want to do. I want to learn how to play the ukulele, and they made it happen,” she said. “My goal was to become a performer and to produce my own music. I’m also a singer, and being able to sing along with the ukulele was one of my goals.”
Alarcon recently met that goal.
In May, she and her boyfriend, Tyler Talusan, recording as Kylie & Tyler, posted their first original song, “On the Shore” on YouTube.
And so the musical ripples from that first ukulele festival continue to spread.
Looking back over the years, Sakuma has cherished memories of his own.
There’s the year Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo‘ole came to the festival and sang “Over the Rainbow”/“What A Wonderful World;” the guest appearances by Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter James Ingram; and the year he and Kathy partnered with Special Wishes Inc. to make a dream come true for a young girl in Connecticut.
“One of the other highlights I’d like to mention was the year that the children from Israel came. They were showing the world that Jews and Arabs could play music together in harmony and be friends. That was very, very touching for me.”
Sakuma is politely insistent that the story of the festival is not about him and Kathy.
“We couldn’t have done this without all the volunteers, supporters, our staff, even sponsors that helped us financially, because as you know, our event was free but it still cost money to put on. There were the performers, the children, the community, the ukulele manufacturers that donated ukuleles to give away to the audience. That’s what made the festival so special.”
But he and Kathy aren’t bidding aloha to the ukulele; Sakuma will continue teaching and helping others organize performances.
“We’ve had several calls already from people saying, ‘If we put on an event, can you help us, give us ideas and assist?’ Sure. So it’s going to continue,” Sakuma said. “I’m very hopeful that there’ll be a lot more festivals sprouting out in communities.”
—
WATCH IT
52nd Annual Ukulele Festival Hawaii
When: 7 p.m. July 17 (virtual only)
Where: facebook.com/ukulelefestivalhawaii
