Original subtitles

- Aloha, my name is Jake Shimabukuro,

I was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii,

and I've been playing ukulele since I was four years old.

("Third Stream" by Jake Shimabukuro)

It's the underdog of all instruments, when people see it,

they don't expect to hear all these sounds

coming from this little sound box.

(audience cheers and applauds)

Thank you very much.

It just kinda freaks them out, and because of that,

there's that element of surprise, and I think in music

or any kind of art form, people like to be surprised.

(medieval fanfare)

- [Voiceover] To most people, the piano, properly played,

is music.

But music has no country and no particular medium.

The only Greek instrument was the lyre.

Can it be that such a noble instrument

was the father of this one?

(high-pitched ukelele strumming)

We refuse to believe it.

("Uke Talk" by J. Chalmers Doane)

- [Narrator] For many, the ukulele is a joke.

It's a kitschy Hawaiian novelty.

Or a relic from some bygone era.

For baby boomers, it was a popular toy.

But eventually, the rise of the rock and roll guitar

pushed the little ukulele into obscurity.

That is, until now.

("One Small Suite For Ukulele: Allegro Con Brio" by Hill)

The ukulele has returned.

And it's the most curious comeback in music history.

- Y'all hold up your ukuleles!

(cheering)

- I feel it's an honest instrument.

Anyone can learn how to play a couple chords

and then, all of a sudden we can sit around a circle

and sing songs together, it's a people's instrument.

- [Narrator] People all over the world

are unleashing their inner music.

- There's a lot of music in the ukulele.

A lot of music in the ukulele.

- There's something about it that I think represents

a paradise lost.

This time and a place that was innocent and at the same time

kind of wild and crazy.

- I would never have dreamed that I would be traveling

all over the country, that I'd be playing ukulele festivals,

I'd never have dreamed that.

- It seems that there is a movement now,

there's a ukulele revolution going on.

- [Narrator] Welcome to an alternate musical universe.

- This is all messing with my head,

because I had really comfortably put the ukulele

in this little shoe box and it was tightly closed,

right here in my mind, as this.

- Everybody asks, is it a violin or is it a gun?

And no, it's a ukulele, it makes people happy.

- This is my first uke.

(laughs)

I've actually never thanked this uke before.

Thank you.

For everything you've given me.

("Going To Santa Cruz" by James Hill and Andy McNeill)

Tonight's our monthly meeting

for the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz,

and tonight's my favorite meeting.

- [Man] Let me know if you're here for open mic,

we're gonna start at 6:30.

- Twice a year, we do open mic amateur night,

and tonight's the night.

Okay Art, you're at one.

- [Art] Okay.

- Okay Selena, you are six.

In the spot six.

("Stranded With You" by Jayme Kelly Curtis)

♫ Gee, how I'd love to be

♫ Stranded on a desert island with you

- [Narrator] The Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz

began as a campy Hawaiian party.

Today, it's a music community of thousands.

♫ We'd strum our ukuleles

- The ukulele has this wonderful way

of keeping things accessible,

and the fact that there's warble in the music

and warble in the voices, and even warble in the walk

if you live that side,

that's a non-issue.

♫ With you

(audience cheers and applauds)

Way to go, brother!

It's so heartwarming to see the huge smiles

on people's faces when they get up and do that first song

for the first time.

- One, two,

three, four!

("Keep On The Sunny Side Of Life")

♫ There's a dark and troubled side of life

♫ There's a bright and sunny side too

♫ Though we meet with the darkness

- From a restaurant in California to a pub in England,

no DJ or jukebox, just voices and ukuleles.

♫ Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side

♫ Keep on the sunny side of life

- The ukulele cuts through the commercialism of music.

It allows you to be a musician on your street corner,

in your living room, down your local pub.

("Going To Santa Cruz" by James Hill and Andy McNeill)

(crowd cheering)

- [Narrator] This musical revolution knows no borders.

In Japan, Taketoshi Odajima and his friends

have a ukulele afternoon.

- I wanted to play guitar or piano,

but I was not a good player.

But once I think about this ukulele,

it is the easiest instrument I've ever had.

("Hava Nagila")

- [Narrator] And in Israel.

♫ We are playing

♫ The ukulele for peace

- People are amazed, from both sides,

that Arabic and Jewish people can get along

but we kinda felt that we have the same language,

that we have our own language.

- Politics fall away, ethnicity falls away,

gender falls away, all of those things,

better than really anything that I've ever seen in my life,

it's a unifying force.

- The whole thing was an accident.

We didn't go to college

to go into the (laughs) ukulele business.

("Going To The Flea Market" by James Hill and Andy McNeill)

- [Narrator] Once upon a time, Jim and Liz Beloff

had established careers in the entertainment industry.

- [Jim] Liz and I are big-time flea market nuts,

and one day about 15 years ago, we walked by a whole bunch

of stuff on a blanket, and there was a ukulele on it,

and it jumped up and said, "Take me home."

("For The Love Of Uke" by Jim Beloff)

Here was this instrument with two fewer strings

than a guitar, and yet the sophistication of the chords

was all there, and I had no idea that you could get

that kind of pretty sound out of what I thought

was sort of a novelty instrument.

So the next thing I did was I tried to track down

old ukulele songbooks.

So I recall, nobody had them.

Why?

'Cause the ukulele had fallen

completely off the pop culture radar.

If you went into a music store and you looked

in the ukulele section, there was nothing there,

and that was when the light bulb went off.

This is the first book we did

with the goofy head.

Then we did the how-to-play book,

Jumping Jim's Ukulele's Tips 'N' Tunes.

Had to do a Christmas book.

Kids' songs.

And then we started to fall in love with the spiritual.

This was maybe one of the most fun to work on.

We've sold almost 300,000 songbooks.

It is scratching some kind of deep itch

that may not have even been experienced in a lot of us.

You could take your first finger and do the bar there

and then take your middle finger.

And then the question comes, well why this

and not pianos or harps or violas,

and I'm not entirely sure, except that when you think

of the ukulele, you bring along

all of your associations with Hawaii.

- [Men] One, two, three, four.

("Pachelbel's Canon")

- [Narrator] In Waikiki, Chris and Daniel

do what Hawaiians have done for generations:

they're making music together with their ukuleles.

- Well I've been playing ukulele ever since I was six.

Whenever I could pick this thing up, I just jammed.

Jammed until my fingers hurt and I'd go to bed.

- When I was young, growing up, at least my experience was,

there was an ukulele in every house in Hawaii.

("On The Beach At Waikiki")

Here comes 'A 'Oia.

(moves into "'A 'Oia")

It wasn't as if it was an instrument

that you learned to play,

you just pick it up and just start strumming away.

("On Fire" by The Ka'au Crater Boys)

- [Narrator] In Honolulu, the ukulele is everywhere.

It's a universal symbol of this tropical getaway,

and a cheap souvenir for the millions who vacation here.

But an hour outside of town, on the dry side of the island,

the ukulele is much more than that.

It's a connection to the past.

To what was once the great kingdom of Hawaii.

("Haleakala Hula")

(singing in foreign language)

Jarrett, Aunty Leimomi and Honeyboy have been

at jams like this since they were kids.

It's something they call kanikapila.

(singing in foreign language)

- Kanikapila is when a bunch of buddies get together,

your friends, family, and we just have a jam session

and everyone takes turns.

You sing one, you sing one, you sing one, you sing one,

yeah, it goes right around

and we just enjoy dreams.

It's the love of Hawaiian music has kept us close.

(singing in foreign language)

- You like kanikapila, that's really jamming.

You don't have to worry about the crowd

or if you're doing good or what,

you just do what you can do, that's it.

(singing in foreign language)

(laughing)

- In kanikapila, it wasn't even necessary

that you play an instrument.

The only thing somewhat necessary is that you respect

the people who are there and not get in their way,

and have a love and respect for the music.

("Ahe Lau Makani")

- [Narrator] The ukulele first appeared in Hawaii

in the late 1800s, about a half-century after missionaries

first brought Christian hymns to the island.

(rhythmic traditional drumming)

(singing in foreign language)

Before them, Hawaiian music didn't have familiar conventions

like harmony and melody.

Chanting, percussion and dance told the stories

of the gods and the kings.

But there was no ukulele.

("Alekoki")

That's because the instrument so symbolic of Hawaii

actually has its ancestry on the other side of the planet,

on another tiny island: Portuguese Madeira.

Natives on this wine-making island

played the five-string rajao

and its tiny four-string cousin, the braguinha.

In the 1870s, Madeira suffered a drought.

Thousands were forced to emigrate,

and wherever they went,

they brought their instruments with them.

With an invitation from the king of Hawaii,

thousands of Portuguese braved the four-month trip

around the tip of South America to their new home.

And their odd musical instrument had an immediate impact.

- [Voiceover] During the past week,

a band of Portuguese musicians have been

delighting the people with nightly street concerts.

The musicians are true performers

on their strange instruments.

We confess to having enjoyed the music ourselves,

and look forward to hearing more of it.

- [Narrator] When word reached the royal palace,

it caught the attention of Hawaii's king, David Kalakaua.

- Most of the things we have here at the museum

are not out on exhibit,

and the early ukulele that we have here

are a couple of those pieces that we keep in the back.

Hello.

- [Woman] Hello!

- [Kealoha] To make sure, is Betty gonna set up here

in her office?

- [Woman] Yes, she's in the office now, it's already set up.

- Here we have some of the earliest ukuleles on exhibit.

This one, according to our records at the museum,

was presented by Kalakaua to a family

as a gift, here, in 1890.

So it has come from the king,

and how we got it, we're not certain, but it is part

of this collection.

("Kaheki Kau Lani")

- [Narrator] King Kalakaua was the first monarch

to circumnavigate the globe.

He was visiting world leaders, trying to discover a way

to rejuvenate his ailing kingdom ravaged by Western disease.

- He was there was this decline in population,

there was a decline in morale; the base of that

was the fact that we were losing some of our traditions.

He traveled the world and made these treaties

to bring in labor, but he understood that those cultures

would bring whatever came with them.

- [Narrator] These finely crafted instruments

caught the king's fancy,

and when Portuguese luthiers applied the tuning

of the five-string rajao to the body

of the four-string braguinha, a new instrument was born,

and it ended up in the hands of the king.

- He was the Merrie Monarch.

Now, did he know other instruments?

Oh my God, they all did in Hawaii.

They had grand pianos and guitars, they knew all that stuff.

But he just loved that little ukulele.

Because it was joyful, and that was part of his personality,

he was a party-giver and a party-goer, and in fact,

he threw some parties that went on for several weeks.

- Koni Au, which is his famous drinking song,

is a great song to play ukulele on,

because the keys are very simple and it's easy enough

to add that beat of (singing in foreign language)

(laughs)

("Koni Au I Ka Wai" by David Kalakaua)

(singing in foreign language)

- [Narrator] The king encouraged its use in the revival

of traditional music and dance, and within a few years,

the ukulele became part of the Hawaiian musical palette.

Kalakaua died at the age of only 55,

and just a few years later, Hawaii was annexed

by the United States.

("Aloha Oe" by )

But his passion for the ukulele

had brought together two cultures.

And the song Aloha Oe, written by his sister

and played on the ukulele, would become

the signature song of Hawaii.

("Tomi Tomi")

By the beginning of the 20th century,

a small industry had started up.

Hawaii had fallen in love with the ukulele.

(singing in foreign language)

- When I lived there as a young boy,

I was known, as a kid, as the best ukulele player

in the world.

Well of course, they'll say that, they don't know

when you say the world, that's exaggerating.

somebody's gonna be better than you, but at that time,

I played the hell out of this instrument.

I really played better that time, I think, than I do now.

- [Presenter] Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bill Tapia.

(audience applauds)

- [Narrator] Bill Tapia picked up his first uke in 1915

and recently celebrated his 101st birthday.

("How I Learned To Speak Hawaiian")

♫ I wanna learn to speak Hawaiian

♫ So I could say the prettiest things to you

♫ I wanna learn to sing Hawaiian

♫ So I can do the hula hula too

- [Narrator] He taught Shirley Temple how to play,

and Betty Grable, and Jimmy Durante.

And as a kid, he witnessed firsthand

the growing infatuation with the ukulele.

♫ It's going to thrill me through and through

- Every place I went, I had the ukulele with me.

Even when I went to school, I used to distract the class.

They followed me during recess and I'd play

outside the school, and we'd go back in class late.

Every place I went, I'd ride on streetcars,

they had trolley cars, I had the uke with me,

the conductor said, "Go in the back."

I'd go in the back seat and I'd play and everybody starts

singing and every damn thing in the streetcar.

♫ Oh Honolulu

♫ America loves you

When I was 16,

I worked on ships going from Honolulu to L.A.

I played ukulele for Hawaiian music,

they used Hawaiian music on the ship for dinner.

That was my first big break.

- [Narrator] It was also the ukulele's big break,

as more and more mainlanders

discovered their new American paradise.

The thirst for the exotic sounds of Hawaii was growing.

♫ Any night my Dad stays out 'til three

In 1915, it hit critical mass.

♫ Oh Honolulu, we've got to hand it to you.

(seagulls squawking)

("One Small Suite For Ukulele: Largo Cantabile" by Hill)

San Francisco has been a trend-setting city for decades,

and it was here that the ukulele first found its spotlight

on the world stage.

For Dan Scanlan, this place is something of a shrine.

- Well, we're standing in the Marina District

of San Francisco, in the very spot

where the Pan-Pacific International Exposition

was held in 1915.

- [Voiceover] From reclaimed ground

on the Golden Gate shores,

there arose, like magic, a beautiful city of jewels.

- [Narrator] This was one of the world's

great cultural exhibitions.

24 countries and all 48 states had exhibits,

and right in the center of it all was the pavilion

for America's new Hawaiian territory.

("On The Beach At Waikiki" by Dietrich and Wright)

17 million people visited the exposition,

and crowds were enthralled by the tones

of the Hawaiian quintet.

Their leader, Henry Kailimai, had just written a song

in English and Hawaiian.

It was going to alter the course of American pop culture.

(singing in foreign language)

♫ Sweet brown maiden said to me

♫ As she gave me language lessons

♫ On the beach at Waikiki

- That song sold more records and more sheet music

than any other single in 1915 and 1916.

Everybody wanted to experience the song,

the exotic rhythms of Hawaii, and of course,

On The Beach At Waikiki was a perfect song for that

because it gave you location.

("On The Beach At Waikiki")

- That was a big thing, to see a little ankle.

And here the Hawaiians are, beautiful brown-toned people,

playing ukuleles and doing hula dances

and showing lots of skin, and it was quite acceptable.

It was wonderful.

The next year, RCA Victor's catalog of records,

which were brand new at the time,

the vast majority of them were Hawaiian.

- [Narrator] The ukulele arrived in New York City

at the same time that millions of immigrants

were starting a new life in America.

("By The Light Of The Silvery Moon")

- We're on 28th Street, the home of Tin Pan Alley,

and this is where it all began, the songwriting industry.

♫ By the light

♫ Of the silvery moon

♫ I want to spoon

♫ To my honey I'll croon love's tune

A lot of the classic Tin Pan Alley songs

were written on piano, but it was marketed to the masses

with this little instrument in mind.

You would find the ukulele chord symbols on all the pieces

of sheet music, and of course, this was the instrument

of the people, this was something everybody could afford,

or within reach.

So even though the songs were written on piano,

this was the vehicle

by which folks could actually enjoy these songs.

♫ Ukulele baby

♫ Of love I'm singing but you keep stringing

♫ You just got me crazy

♫ The way you roll

- [Narrator] The uke's tight rhythm was perfect for jazz,

and a generation tossed off Victorian morals,

launching a decade-long party.

♫ But you get coo-coo-cooler

♫ Ukulele baby

Ukuleles were selling by the millions.

They could swing hard, get a laugh, and get the girl.

♫ He knew just what lovin' was invented for

♫ So when his heart cried love songs

♫ He's got to sigh to her

- It was the music of the young,

and this little instrument went right along

with the fashion.

It was as much a symbol of being collegiate

as a raccoon coat.

Now, you couldn't always afford a raccoon coat

but you you could go to Sears & Roebuck

and get one for a few bucks.

("Crazy Words, Crazy Tunes" by Johnny Marvin)

- [Narrator] The great ukulele craze put music

in the hands of millions of amateur musicians;

the backlash was inevitable.

♫ There's a guy I'd like to kill

♫ And if he doesn't stop, I will

♫ Got a ukulele and a voice that's loud and shrill

♫ And he lives next door to me

♫ And he keeps me up 'til three

♫ With a ukulele and his funny melody

♫ Crazy words, crazy tunes

♫ All you'll ever hear him croon

♫ Is vo-do-do-de-o, vo-do-do-de-o, doe

By the early '30s, the fad had faded.

Jazz evolved into other rhythms

that the ukulele couldn't follow.

(static hisses)

- Now folks, here's a real surprise.

- For them or for me?

(audience laughs)

- This is a surprise for everyone.

- For a minute I thought you were gonna bring back Tiny Tim.

(audience laughs)

(audience applauds)

- [Narrator] In 1968, the ukulele returned

to the pop charts, propelling the instrument

into a very different realm of pop culture.

- Wait 'til you see this.

Tiny has added a bit of choreography

to his usual presentation.

- There is nothing usual about Tiny Tim's presentation.

(audience laughs)

("Tiptoe Through The Tulips")

♫ I'll tiptoe through the window

♫ By the window, that is where I'll be

♫ Come tiptoe through the tulips with me

- Tiny Tim was this guy who started to appear on television

like crazy, and he was kinda considered a big cartoon

and pretty much a joke to the world at large.

(television static hisses)

Beneath the cartoon that most people think of

when they think of Tiny Tim

was a guy who was just deeply in love

with the material that he performed.

He was an absolute encyclopedia of American popular music

from the early 1900s to '30s or '40s.

The reason he got into the uke was that it was an instrument

that he could audition with, and then if they hated it,

he could escape fast.

He carried it, not in a uke case, but in a paper bag,

and so it came out of the paper bag fast, he did his number,

(laughs) and if the response was less than positive,

he could put it back in the paper bag and beat a hasty exit.

(audience applauds)

(television static hisses)

("Apao's Trip" by Kuricorder Quartet)

- [Narrator] The uke became known as the instrument

of wackos and weirdos, and sales dropped off a cliff.

The instrument was once again consigned

to the trash heap of history.

This time, for about 30 years.

- Initially, it was with the concert for George Harrison

where the baby boomer generation of rock stars

came out as uke players.

I interviewed rock stars as a job, and the people

you would least likely expect to have ukes, play ukes,

and love ukes, had ukes.

("Turkish Rondo")

Somehow, this tiny little instrument

that nobody really took seriously was shown as something

that people you took seriously, took seriously.

But in a not serious way; there's so much ambiguity

about the uke.

("One More Lie To Love" by James Hill and Anne Davison)

- [Narrator] In the 21st century, the ukulele is finding

its way back into the spotlight, as musicians rediscover

a unique musical voice.

- As a kid, I always was finding things in the trash.

(laughs)

And we saw someone, I guess, pick up this ukulele

and put it down in the trash, out the window.

I watched it for a little while

to see if anyone was gonna come back for it,

and when they didn't, I went out and picked it up.

I don't think it had all the strings

on it, but it had some cool stickers

and I've been playing it ever since.

("Remedy" by Jon Bromon)

♫ My buddy, my man, my partner, my dude

♫ My homie, my first compadre

♫ No kind of emotion, no reason, no logic

♫ Can explain the way that we linked it, we locked it

♫ My buddy, my brother, my brah

♫ Never be lonely if I could call ya

♫ And talk some nonsensical shit

♫ That nobody else gets, this is it and I wanna say

♫ I remember when we first met

♫ It was maybe August

Sometimes I think, if I heard,

"Oh, you want to come hear "some ukulele hip-hop?"

I probably wouldn't be that interested in it (laughs).

But with hip-hop, I think it's actually really well-suited,

'cause I was writing songs on the ukulele before,

but when I hit the hip-hop thing,

I really thought I hit my stride.

- You know a good song if you can play it on the ukulele

and it sounds amazing.

You know that it's a good song; there's no fluff,

there's no tracks to cover up.

If it's a good song, it'll come through by playing it

on the ukulele, instantly.

♫ Tell me stars and moonbeams twinkle in the sky

♫ Tell me that my world is pink and not blue

♫ And I'll be alright

♫ I'll be fine

♫ Tell me dolphins sing starfish lullabies

♫ Butterfly kisses dry my eyes

♫ I'll be alright

♫ I'll be just fine

Well I've been singing and danced since I was 15,

and that really dates me, I'll just leave it at that,

but I've been in a bunch of cover bands

and I sang backup for about four years for Johnny Otis.

But until I started writing songs and playing the ukulele,

I didn't really find my voice

because I was singing other people's music.

♫ Tell me mermaids know where buried treasure goes

♫ Tell me that my world is pink and not blue

♫ And I'll be alright

♫ I'll be just fine

♫ I'll be alright

♫ I'll be just fine

In the key of C, the people's key (laughs).

Last summer, I quit my job at the record store

to follow a dream, and in the last year I have been touring

and playing music, and that's how I've been

making my living. (audience cheers)

♫ I'm on my way-ay-ay-ay

♫ Ay-ay-Ay

♫ I'm on my way-ay-ay-ay

♫ Ay-ay-ay

♫ I'm on my way-ay-ay-ay

♫ Ay-ay-ay

♫ I'm on my way

(audience applauds)

There's so many reasons why I love ukulele

but one is, most people still don't take it seriously

in the real world, so they think I'm just bringing a toy.

I never have to explain myself when I go through customs,

I don't need special rigs or roadies.

I'll take groupies, but not roadies (laughs).

(bright, swaying ukulele music)

- [Narrator] Now we're south of Los Angeles.

Canadian James Hill is making a pilgrimage of sorts.

- There's this community of people who are crazy enough

to try to make their living doing this,

and you get to see them at every gig.

- [Narrator] Tonight, James is performing

in Carlsbad, California.

The Museum of Making Music is celebrating the ukulele.

There's a concert and an exhibit

dedicated to the instrument's place in American culture.

- The ukulele is always fighting the novelty factor.

It's so good at being a novelty.

But if it's going to really survive and become an instrument

like any other instrument, not that I'm saying that would be

a good thing, but you know what I mean.

It would stick around and be part of the musical landscape

for generations to come; if we're gonna do that,

we gotta be creative.

(melodic, rhythmic tinkling)

("Chopsticks" by James Hill)

The driving force of some of my work is,

what is the ukulele, in and of itself?

What can the ukulele do in its native tongue

that maybe another instrument just couldn't do as well?

(wood cracking)

- [Narrator] When he's at home

in the Nova Scotia wilderness,

James Hill composes music for the ukulele

that he hopes will be taken seriously.

("One Small Suite For Ukulele: Allegro Con Brio" by Hill)

- I wrote One Small Suite For Ukulele because I had to.

I wrote it to prove to myself that this was possible,

and it also seemed slightly radical

to make the ukulele the focus of an orchestral piece.

(laughs)

- [Narrator] James and his partner Anne Davison,

both classically-trained musicians,

are taking the ukulele into unknown territory.

- I just wanted to push it, pedal to the metal.

See how far can I go before this thing explodes on me.

- [Narrator] And in the process, he's discovered something

that sets it apart from other instruments.

(audience applauds)

- The ukulele is a strumming machine.

That seems to be its native voice, it's the strum.

And there are all sorts of things you can do with the strum;

the sonic boom moment is where you start

making more sounds than moves.

(virtuoso ukulele music)

That's just a bit of a magic moment.

When the sound check and the visuals don't sync up.

That fries people's brains, and they love it.

("Ode To A Frozen Boot")

(audience applauds)

(rhythmic clapping)

Your turn.

(rhythmic clapping)

Was that together?

- [Narrator] So why would a virtuoso pick the ukulele

as his favorite instrument?

- Ready, go.

(rhythmic clapping)

(class chanting)

- It actually wasn't so much how I came to the ukulele

but how the ukulele came to me.

Your turn.

(deliberate strumming)

In the community where I grew up, Langley, British Columbia,

they have this wonderful tradition

of teaching elementary music education through the ukulele.

So in grade four, I got a standard issue ukulele

just like all of my other classmates,

and I had to do two years' mandatory service.

It's the best thing that's ever happened to me (chuckles).

("Song For Cheri" by James Hill)

- [Narrator] Just outside Vancouver,

this sleepy bedroom community looks like any other.

- You know what, you handled that beautifully, well done.

Because the reality is we need the portables.

I'll see you sometime after my long principal's meeting

tomorrow morning.

- [Narrator] But there is one big difference.

- One, two, one, and.

(intricate ukulele music)

Stop, let's start that again.

That's very good, that's great play, I can hear it

on my left-hand side, it's right on.

(mimics ukulele strumming)

Make it a little bit more intense,

a little bit more mysterious, ready?

One, two,

one, and!

("Flight Of The Bumble Bee")

- [Narrator] And that difference is Peter Luongo.

- The very first time I stood in front

of a group of students, started to teach them to play it,

and saw that as I started adding harmony,

added discordal as supplement to it,

that I had kids making music.

(mimics ukulele strumming)

And,

and...

I like it.

I grew up playing the accordion,

another really loved instrument,

and another one that's got a reputation,

the more you have to win people over.

As a young college student, I attended university

and they offered a course in classroom music instruction

that featured ukulele.

♫ Follow my example

And I just believe that this is among

the most effective ways to teach music to children.

(flowing, meandering ukulele music)

- Hi!

- [Narrator] Canada has a long tradition

of teaching kids music with the ukulele.

- I was brought in as the first-year teacher,

had very early success with a group of students

who wanted to learn.

We probably have, I'm gonna say close to 1,000 kids

who are learning to play.

- [Narrator] Tonight is the annual ukulele recital.

- My daughter started first with the recorder,

which was not something we really enjoyed that much.

But you know, you don't like to discourage them,

but I was certainly happy when she brought home the ukulele

because even at the beginning,

(audience applauds)

you can play something that sounds like music.

- [Narrator] The best players form the senior A orchestra.

- Ladies and gentlemen, the Langley Ukulele Ensemble

will now perform Tico-Tico.

One, two,

one, two, one!

("Tico-Tico no Fuba")

How did I recognize that all of this was possible?

It didn't take much, once students could see

what they could do with the instrument,

it became about me making sure that I was confident enough

to teach them to take their full potential to play.

Right, the first left hand!

One, two, one!

(audience gasps)

The ukulele is seen as something insignificant,

it's seen as something that you can't be serious about.

Part of the allure for me is that I get the opportunity

to change that perception.

(audience cheers and applauds)

- Well, I've been in the ensemble for six years now.

I've been playing since grade four now,

so it's just always been in my life, ukulele.

I know in elementary school, you say,

"Oh, I play the ukulele, but it's dumb,

"my mom's making me do it." (laughs)

But it does definitely change as you get up

through the groups and as you realize

the type of music that you're making is really advanced.

("Blue Danube")

(audience applauds)

(moves into "Die Fledermaus")

When you play the ukulele and you just let out

all your emotions into your playing,

it is magical in a way, I would say.

You can create really nice harmonies and melodies

and rhythm at the same time and accompany that

with your voice, and it's really empowering, too.

("Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring, BWV 147")

(ensemble harmonizing)

(audience applauds)

(plane engine screeches)

("Nanakuli")

- [Narrator] So why would a bunch of teenagers

give up their evenings and their weekends for the ukulele?

Because every summer, they get to go to Hawaii.

- My teacher had told us eventually you could get

into a group that goes to Hawaii;

I just knew I needed to be in that group.

(laughing)

(singing in foreign language)

- [Girl] Alright!

- [Narrator] Every year, the Langley Ukulele Ensemble

has a two-week host gig at the Sheraton Waikiki.

(lonesome ukulele music)

- Hi, everybody!

- [All] Hi.

- How are you?

- [Peter] Never mind the handshake, my friend.

- Yeah yeah, brothers don't shake hands, brothers hug.

(Peter grunts)

(teens giggle)

Taimi Palakai is an ukulele player, choral director,

and a part-time firefighter. - Yeah, let me see the words.

- 'Kay, how many of you have the words memorized?

- Nobody! - Negative!

- [Narrator] And he teaches the kids

traditional Hawaiian songs every time they come

to the islands.

- [Taimi] Go.

(rhythmic clapping)

(singing in foreign language)

Okay, let's go over it by itself.

(singing in foreign language)

Okay great, try that.

(singing in foreign language)

- I definitely enjoy playing the Hawaiian music

on the uke.

It's Hawaiian instrument (laughs), most popular in Hawaii,

so you just get that feeling

it's just meant for the ukulele.

(singing in foreign language)

("Latitu")

- We have a fairly big Hawaiian repertoire

and you kinda get a hang or feel for the Hawaiian words.

After playing it for a while, you can feel it.

("William Tell Overture" by Gioachino Antonio Rossini)

- [Narrator] The novelty of foreign kids performing

on Hawaii's instrument isn't lost on the local media.

- Once again, Peter Luongo, the director over here,

putting in this rigorous schedule,

just making them work so hard.

- [Narrator] Here, the ukulele is serious business.

These kids will do two to five shows a day,

(cheering)

give daily lessons to hotel guests,

and study with the Hawaiian masters of the instrument.

But the highlight of the trip is performing

in the Hawaiian communities that have inspired

so much of the music that the group's played.

- Welcome to the heat of Nanakuli.

That's why we sing, that's why we have to sing.

This is where the ukulele came from,

we'd be very depressed if we didn't have an instrument

to keep us occupied in the afternoon sun.

Back in the 1800s, much like a lot of your

First Nations people, Hawaiians were moved

off of the prime land and put into land

that was arid and dry.

To your right is one of the original homestead properties

that was created for people of Hawaiian ancestry.

Unfortunately, throughout time, being from this part

of the community, you get stereotyped

and you fit this picture.

But a lot of the songs you play come out of this box.

Come out of this area of Hawaii.

("Kawika")

(singing in foreign language)

- [Narrator] The audience knows this as a song of praise,

written for their last king.

But for the Langleys, it's an intimate cultural exchange

they'll never forget.

(singing in foreign language)

(audience cheers and applauds)

- Teachers live for the aha moment,

when the light bulb goes on.

And really, as the musical director,

this is an offshoot of that.

I'm not in a classroom, or maybe better stated,

my classroom is different; my classroom is the stage.

And when that audience responds as they do,

you know you've hit it.

(singing in foreign language)

("Hawaii Aloha")

- [Narrator] Tonight is the last show of the trip.

And for those graduating,

it's the last time they'll play with the group

they've been part of for nearly half their lives.

(audience cheers and applauds)

- It is sad knowing that you can't be a part

of this forever, but continuing friendships,

like you see it all the time when people leave,

their friendships just stay like that.

- The friends I still keep in touch with from Langley

are ukulele friends, and it's because that connection

and those experiences were so much more profound and varied

and rich, and that was all thanks to the instrument

and what we were doing with it.

("Amazing Grace")

- [Narrator] This humble instrument,

born in a wood shop in Honolulu,

became a star on Broadway and in Hollywood.

It's brought cultures together and put music in the hands

of the many.

Maybe it's time we showed the ukulele a little respect.

- Ukulele.

Pass it on.

(laughs)

("Uke Talk" by James Hill)