At the beginning of the pandemic, I watched Facebook livestreams of “Unko George” Kahumoku, Jr making music on his farm on Maui. It looked like such fun. He had introduced me to Daniel Ho who then introduced me to the ukulele just before I left Maui.
Two years later, I am on Maui. On the Thursday before Unko George took off for his annual concert tour of the East Coast USA, we visited his famous farm, cutting grass for his animals and taking part in his morning feeding. He instructed what to do. After making us lunch, he brought out several copies of his songbooks (what he uses in his ukulele and slack key camp). We sat together and engaged in kanikapila in front of a small audience.
Here’s view of the morning farm visit.
I requested songs about Hawaii with English lyrics. White Sandy Beach, Island Style, ….
These songs evoke that relaxed feeling of being on a beautiful island.
And then we ended with what’s possibly the most well-known Hawaiian song, Aloha ‘Oe, which we played in the 3 Chord Thursday Hawaiian theme song session.
Unko George Kahumoku, jr will give his famous slack key (and ukulele) concert in Boston (Club Passim in Cambridge, MA) on Saturday 22nd January 2022. See other dates in New York City, Vienna Virginia, New Jersey etc on his website. You have to see the show to experience the Hawaii I know.
