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Ukulele Festival Coming to Macomb

Ukulele Macomb

Musician Kimo Hussey will hold a concert and two workshops as part of the second annual Ukulele Festival in Macomb, Saturday, June 6.  It’s being hosted by Ukulele Macomb and the Western Illinois Museum.

“I enjoy small workshops and small concerts, relatively speaking.  They’re just so much more personal,” said Hussey.

He said ukulele players don’t need to be experts. He said ukulele players around the world simply enjoy getting together to play music for fun.

“My best guess is that the thing that has made the instrument so popular is it’s easy to learn to play,” Hussey said.

Credit kimohussey.com
Kimo Hussey

One of Saturday afternoon’s workshops will focus on left hand techniques while the other is designed to improve right hand techniques.  Each is scheduled to last 90 minutes.

The concert will begin at 7:00 p.m., preceded at 6:00 p.m. by a “Hapa Haole Hour.”

Hussey was born and raised in Hawaii.

“When I was very young and growing up in Hawaii, ukuleles were in just about everybody’s house,” he said.

“They were never kept in cases. They were always open sitting out on a coffee table in the house or a couch or something like that. So they were very, very readily available.”

He said the ukuleles made today look better, are easier to play, and they sound better.

Rich is TSPR's News Director.