Some of you know my friend Yuval.
For those of you who don't - aside from being one of my closest friends, he is an emerging Ukulele player.
For those of you who don't know what a Ukulele is here's a photo of one:
and if you still didn't get a sense of this instrument, or think this is a photo of a toy guitar – pls. Check the Oxford Dictionary definition:
ukulele |ˌyoōkəˈlālē|
noun
a small four-stringed guitar of Hawaiian origin.
ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from Hawaiian, literally ‘jumping flea.’
Anyway – now that everyone's on the same page – I can start my story.
On Friday night Yuval took me to a ukelele showcase and open mic on Maui Tacos. Apparently – ukulele lovers have a few meetup groups that meet all around the city. Last Friday night was considered a “slow” night (supposedly due to the long holiday weekend), as only 25 people showed up. Yuval says that usually there are over a 100 ukulele players and fans. In the spirit of New York City - this gathering presented participants from different nationalities: American, Native Hawaiian, Australian, Thai, Italian, Spanish and of course - 2 Israelis :-)
During the evening we got to listen to 8 different performers (we were the 9th attraction, keep reading - coming soon...), each utilizing and adjusting the ukulele to his own musical preference: from country to rock'nroll, from folk to classical music, from blues to jazz – all works!
5 minutes before the event started – Yuval (who has been going to these events for a while now) asked if I would mind to join him in a duet in Hebrew. As an ideal partner in crime – it didn't take much to convince me (I almost hoped he will ask me to :-)). we chose to sing the Famous “Shoov” Duet performed – by Arik Sinai and Hava Alberstein (there's also a version with Josy Katz). That was a knockout!
If you want to join us for the next Ukulele experience – please let us know – and we will keep you posted. And try not to be so cynical like I was. It's an amazing experience!
And one last treat for my followers - check this out:
And one last treat for my followers - check this out:
