Roy Sakuma
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Roy Sakuma
Roy Sakuma (born 1948) is a Hawaiian ukulele teacher and founder of the Ukulele Festival, the largest annual ukulele concert in the world. His support and teaching over the last forty years has helped fuel the ukulele's resurgence in Hawaii and in mainstream music. Beginnings Roy Sakuma was born in 1948 in Hawaii. In 1964 Sakuma heard the hit song, “Sushi”, played by Herb “Ohta-San” Ohta, and became one of his students. Practicing eight to 10 hours a day he worked his way to the position of substitute instructor for Ohta-San when he was touring out of the state. Annual Ukulele Festival Sakuma dropped out of high school at 16 and worked stocking shelves and eventually obtained a position with the Honolulu Parks and Recreation Department. In 1970, Sakuma and his co-workers came up with the idea for an ukulele festival. With the support of the Parks Department they put together the first festival in July 1971. Now an annual event each July, 2015 marked the 45th yea ...
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Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state geographically located within the tropics. Hawaii comprises nearly the entire Hawaiian archipelago, 137 volcanic islands spanning that are physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania. The state's ocean coastline is consequently the fourth-longest in the U.S., at about . The eight main islands, from northwest to southeast, are Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lānai, Kahoolawe, Maui, and Hawaii—the last of these, after which the state is named, is often called the "Big Island" or "Hawaii Island" to avoid confusion with the state or archipelago. The uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands make up most of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the United States' largest protected ...
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Waikiki
Waikiki (; haw, Waikīkī; ; also known as Waikiki Beach) is a neighborhood of Honolulu on the south shore of the island of Oahu in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Waikiki is most famous for Waikiki Beach, which is one of six beaches in the district, along with Queen's Beach, Kuhio Beach, Gray's Beach, Fort DeRussy Beach and Kahanamoku Beach. Waikiki Beach is almost entirely man-made. There are beaches called Waikiki in other parts of the world, such as Tarragona (Spain), Western Australia (Australia), or Lima ( Peru). Waikiki (Hawaii) is home to public places including Kapiolani Park, Fort DeRussy, Kahanamoku Lagoon, Kūhiō Beach Park and Ala Wai Harbor. Waikiki was the first capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1795 to 1796. Etymology The Hawaiian language name means ''spouting fresh water'', for springs and streams that fed wetlands that once separated Waikiki from the interior. History The area was a retreat for Hawaiian royalty in the 1800s who enjoyed surfing there ...
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Living People
Related categories * :Year of birth missing (living people) / :Year of birth unknown * :Date of birth missing (living people) / :Date of birth unknown * :Place of birth missing (living people) / :Place of birth unknown * :Year of death missing / :Year of death unknown * :Date of death missing / :Date of death unknown * :Place of death missing / :Place of death unknown * :Missing middle or first names See also * :Dead people * :Template:L, which generates this category or death years, and birth year and sort keys. : {{DEFAULTSORT:Living people 21st-century people People by status ...
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1948 Births
Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British Railways. * January 4 – Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic, named the ''Union of Burma'', with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President, and U Nu its first Prime Minister. * January 5 ** Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (''Tournament of Roses Parade'' and the ''Rose Bowl Game''). ** The first Kinsey Reports, Kinsey Report, ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'', is published in the United States. * January 7 – Mantell UFO incident: Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of an unidentified flying object. * January 12 – Mahatma Gandhi begins his fast-unto-death in Delhi, to stop communal violence during the Partition of India. * ...
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Danny Kaleikini
Danny "Kaniela" Kaleikini (October 10, 1937 – January 6, 2023) was an American singer, musical artist, and entertainer. Best known for his long-term Concert residency, residency at the The Kahala Hotel & Resort, Kahala Hilton in Hawaii, where he performed for 28 years, Kaleikini is often called "The Ambassador of Aloha". During his career of more than 50 years in show business, he was the opening act for Paul Anka at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and performed alongside Sammy Davis Jr., Wayne Newton, Dolly Parton, The McGuire Sisters, Phyllis McGuire, and Don Ho. A baritone who sang Hawaiian songs and played the nose flute, Kaleikini gained international recognition for promoting Hawaiian music, language, and culture. Early life and education Kaleikini was born on October 10, 1937. He grew up in Papakolea in Honolulu, as one of nine children. He was of Native Hawaiians, Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Korean, Irish, and Italian descent. His father, Danny Kaleikini Sr., was in the Haw ...
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Kamaka Ukulele
Kamaka Hawaii, Incorporated, also known as Kamaka Ukulele or just Kamaka is a family-owned Hawaii-based maker of ukuleles. It is often credited with producing some of the world's finest ukuleles, and created the first pineapple ukulele. The company manufactures 9 types of ukulele. History In 1910, Samuel Kaialiilii Kamaka apprenticed Manuel Nunes to make ukuleles. Kamaka founded his own shop in 1916. It was called "Kamaka Ukulele and Guitar Works" and was operated from Kamaka's basement. In 1921 Kamaka opened a store in Kaimuki, near Honolulu. Kamaka already had a reputation for making high-quality instruments, and the shop thrived through the 1920s and 1930s. In 1927, Samuel Kamaka made a new design of ukulele, which produced a more mellow sound than that of a normal figure-eight shaped ukulele. His friends are said to have commented that this new ukulele looked like a pineapple, and one of Samuel's friends, an artist, painted an image of a pineapple on the front of the new ukul ...
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Jake Shimabukuro
Jake Shimabukuro (born November 3, 1976) is a Hawaiian ukulele virtuoso and composer known for his fast and complex finger work. His music combines elements of jazz, blues, funk, rock, bluegrass, classical, folk, and flamenco. Shimabukuro has written numerous original compositions, including the entire soundtracks to two Japanese films, ''Hula Girls'' (2007) and '' Saidoweizu'' (2009), the Japanese remake of ''Sideways''. Well known in Hawai’i and Japan during his early solo career in the early 2000s, Shimabukuro became famous internationally in 2006, when a video of him playing a virtuosic rendition of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was posted on YouTube without his knowledge and became one of the first viral videos on that site. His concert engagements, collaborations with well-known musicians, media appearances, and music production have snowballed since then. In 2012, an award-winning documentary was released tracking his life, career, and music, titled ''Jake Shimabukuro: Lif ...
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Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole (; meaning 'the fearless eye, the bold face'; May 20, 1959June 26, 1997), also called Bruddah Iz or just simply IZ, was a Hawaiian musician, singer, songwriter, and Hawaiian sovereignty activist. He achieved commercial success outside Hawaii when his album '' Facing Future'' was released in 1993. His medley of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" was released on his albums ''Ka ʻAnoʻi'' and ''Facing Future'', and was subsequently featured in several films, television programs, and television commercials. The song has had 358 weeks on top of the World Digital Songs chart, making it the longest-leading number-one hit on any of the ''Billboard'' song charts. Along with his ukulele playing and incorporation of other genres, such as jazz and reggae, Kamakawiwoʻole remains influential in Hawaiian music, and is seen by many as the greatest Hawaiian musician of all time. He was named "The Voice of Hawai‘i" by NPR in 2010. Early ...
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Lyle Ritz
Lyle Joseph Ritz (January 10, 1930 – March 3, 2017) was an American musician, known for his work on ukulele and bass (both double bass and bass guitar). His early career in jazz as a ukulele player made him a key part of the Hawaii music scene in the 1950s. By the 1960s, he had begun working as a session musician, more often on double bass or electric bass guitar. His prominence in the Los Angeles session scene made him a part of the Wrecking Crew, an informal group of well-used Los Angeles-based musicians. Ritz contributed to many American pop hits from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s. Starting in the mid-1980s, a rediscovery of his earlier ukulele work led to him becoming a fixture in live festivals, and a revival of his interest in playing the ukulele. He was inducted to both the Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007. Career Southern California Music Company & US Army Band Lyle Ritz began his music career as a college student w ...
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Kapiolani Park
Queen Kapiolani Regional Park is the largest and second-oldest public park in Hawaii, located in Honolulu on the east end of Waikiki just beyond Kuhio Beach Park and the Waikiki residential neighborhood. The park, named after Queen Kapiolani, the queen consort of King David Kalākaua, is home to the Waikiki Shell and the Honolulu Zoo. History Kingdom of Hawaii In the 1870s, King Kalākaua was asked to find a permanent, dry course for horse racing. Since Waikiki was popular with wealthy racing fans, Kalākaua chose the unoccupied and dry plain at the foot of Diamond Head where the park now stands. On June 11, 1877, the park was dedicated as the first Hawaiian public space. Scotsman Archibald Scott Cleghorn was Vice-president and later president of the Kapiolani Park Association, a group of businessmen who convinced Kalākaua to give them a 30-year lease for $1 per year. A share in the association cost $50, and would allow shareholders to lease property on Waikiki Beach. ...
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Ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and construction. Ukuleles commonly come in four sizes: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. History Developed in the 1880s, the ukulele is based on several small, guitar-like instruments of Portuguese origin, the ''machete'', '' cavaquinho'', ''timple'', and ''rajão'', introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira, the Azores and Cape Verde. Three immigrants in particular, Madeiran cabinet makers Manuel Nunes, José do Espírito Santo, and Augusto Dias, are generally credited as the first ukulele makers. Two weeks after they disembarked from the SS ''Ravenscrag'' in late August 1879, the ''Hawaiian Gazette'' reported that "Madeira Islanders recently arrived here, have been delighting the ...
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Herb Ohta
Herb Ohta aka Ohta-san is an American Ukulele player born in 1934 in Hawaii who has recorded solo, as a group and with Andre Popp on the A&M Records label, which was co-owned by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. He is also known as "Ohta-san" in Japan and other Asian countries, which is a title of respect for the musician. Biography Ohta was a boy when he was taught his first three chords on the ukulele by his mother. He entered an amateur contest at age 9 and won the $10 first prize. Three years later he met Eddie Kamae on the beach, at the time considered the best ukulele player in the world, and became his student. He enlisted in the US Marine Corps and served ten years from 1953 to 1963. While stationed in Japan as an interpreter, Ohta made his first recordings and played a number of events. He was a guest on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1955. In 1964 he succeeded in having a hit song with the single ''Sushi'' and signed a five-year contract with Decca Records. Among Ohta-san's ...
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