This Sunday: Ukulele Festival Hawai'i featuring Rainbow Flash Mob and U3 live performance (Patreon)

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Aloha, Patrons!

This Sunday, July 18th is the 51st Annual Ukulele Festival Hawai'i.  I'm honored to perform at this prestigious festival for the first time with my trio U3, and the Festival will also debut the Cynthia Lin Global Uke Squad's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" Flash Mob that many Patrons submitted videos for last month.  The virtual festival will feature live and recorded performances from uke stars like Jake, Aldrine, Brittni, Kalei, and more, as well as ukulele community performances from all over the world.  Hope you'll tune in!

THE 51st ANNUAL UKULELE FESTIVAL HAWAI'I 

Sunday, July 18, beginning at 9:00 AM Hawaii Time (time conversion chart)

***U3 + Flash Mob will air at 10am Hawaii Time ***

Click here for full schedule and info 

Hosted by Roy Sakuma, Jake Shimabukuro, and Herb Ohta, Jr. 

Watch the free livestream via the Official Festival YouTube channel

If you'd like, you can log in to YouTube now, via the link above, to set a reminder for the start of the livestream on that page.  U3, my trio with Abe Lagrimas, Jr. and Ukulenny, will perform live on the Festival Livestream around 10am Hawaii time, and the "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" Flash Mob video will air immediately afterward. If you join via live chat, remember to thank our amazing Flash Mob editor, Liên (of Kratzke Ukulele).  I can't wait for you all to see it!

The Flash Mob video will be shared on my YouTube channel the day after the Festival in case you miss the debut.  

The legacy of the longest-running free Ukulele Festival

Each year since 1971, Ukulele Festival Hawaii has been a FREE community event in Honolulu's Kapiolani Park, organized by founders Roy and Kathy Sakuma.  After cancellation in 2020 due to the pandemic, Roy and Kathy have handed the festival reins to my friends Craig Chee and Sarah Maisel, who took the lead in creating virtual ukulele events when the world was in lockdown.  To carry on the legacy of the Ukulele Festival Hawai'i is a great honor -- congratulations to Craig and Sarah!  You can read more about the future of the festival in this April 2021 article from Ukulele Magazine. 

Normally you'd have to come to Hawai'i to attend the Festival, but this year the Festival is a virtual event, streaming for free to the world.  You can enjoy the aloha spirit of Hawaii's ukulele community from your home.  

U3 reunites!

The last few days have been joyous and crazy, because U3 is finally back together again!   Abe and Lenny are in town this week for the festival, and we're making the most of our time together, and remembering how to do what we do best, which is perform live together.  It is such a treat to play music live, and I had forgotten how demanding it is!  I have had to practice hard the past couple of weeks to wake up these rusty gears in terms of performance stamina,  focus, and being in the moment with other musicians.  Grateful for the opportunity!

Along with rehearsal time, music video shoots, and just jamming, we recorded U3's first live performance at The Ukulele Site (owner Andrew Kitakis is shown in the photo far right), and special guest Lopaka Colon (far left, a veteran on the Hawaiian music scene) joined us on percussion.  I look forward to sharing those performances with you soon!

Have a lovely weekend, and hope to see you Sunday at the festival.

xo cynthia 🌺