ʻUkulele

In this College Edition of the Tuesday Student Takeover, ʻukulele player and Hawaiian language major Kamakahukilani Plunkett joins Classical Pacific host Sharene Taba to share her love of music and ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. A summer production and operations intern at Hawaiʻi Public Radio, Plunkett is also a member of the Hawaiian trio Kilia, featured in the Live from the Atherton – Mele Hawaiʻi Performance Series.

The event brought live music, small businesses, and ʻono food to Kapiʻolani Park, providing a community for vendors, organizers, and visitors. HPR's Emma Caires has more.

Hawaiʻi's ʻukulele festival is back on Oʻahu this Sunday for its third year in a row since the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival will feature live music, a keiki cultural activities center, an artisan craft village, and a multi-ethnic food court.

Taimane's love for mythology drew her to two mythical figures: the half-woman and half-snake Turkish goddess Shahmaran and the Hawaiian lizard goddess Kalamainuʻu. HPR's Cassie Ordonio has more.

This week The Conversation hosted some special guests who traveled all the way from Madeira, an island over 500 miles southwest of mainland Portugal.

The Hawaiʻi State Archives will be showcasing various vintage instruments and other historical music material at the International ʻUkulele Festival of Hawaiʻi this month.

A new Maui music festival was launched to give back to Lahaina fire victims. The event in Kula is dedicated to providing ukuleles to families who lost their instruments.

Ukulele virtuoso Taimane has an upcoming performance at the Hawaiʻi Theatre. She'll be showcasing a visual production featuring her Nā Hōkū Hanohano-winning album, "Hawaiki." She reflected on the strength of community and shared the healing power of music.

As relief efforts continue on Maui, many local musicians are using their talents to raise money for those displaced by the wildfires. That includes ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro. He recently turned the upcoming two-day Hana Hou Festival into a benefit concert for Hawaiʻi Community Foundation's Maui Strong fund.

A local ʻukulele collector is working to preserve the tiny instruments' sounds in partnership with the Hawaiʻi State Archives. As HPR's Cassie Ordonio reports, these four-stringed instruments date back to the Kingdom of Hawai‘i. So far, he has about 50 ʻukulele over 100 years old.