Since the beginning the show has followed a set format featuring student performances intermingled with music by leading musicians. And from the beginning Sakuma has noticed that after each concert interest in the ukulele rises, as indicated by the number of parents who sign up their kids for lessons. Today the Sakumas have four studios on Oahu and employ more than 20 instructors, all former students. Roy is so busy juggling his time among the studios, his recording company, his management company, and events like the ukulele festival that he doesn t teach much anymore. In the revitalized Hawaiian music scene of the 1990s, the ukulele has been reborn in the hands of musicians like the late Israel Kamakawiwo ole, the groups Kapena and Pure Heart, and Troy Fernandez of the Ka au Crater Boys.
Local kids love the new style.
Sakuma says that in the early 90s, his students always wanted to learn whatever was on the Top 40. But by the mid- 90s, they preferred songs by local groups. If my grandfather were alive, he d probably be baffled by today s ukulele hits, which aren t just Hawaiian standards. At the Ukulele Festival you hear pop, reggae, jazz, country, rock, New Age, Hawaiian oldies, and a new Hawaiian sound that s a blend of many influences. Right now, the force is definitely with the uke.