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Ukulele festival draws most number of performers so far
Male dancers of the Rafaluwasch Warriors teach Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese tourists how to perform a cultural dance at the 4rd Annual Ukulele Festival at the Garapan Fishing Bass. (Kimberly A. Bautista)
The third iteration of the annual ukulele festival in the Commonwealth over the weekend managed to attract its largest batch of off-island performers so far.
The 3rd Annual Ukulele Festival was held last Saturday at the Garapan Fishing Base, featuring visiting performers from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.
According to the Ukulele Festival Association chair Larry Lee, the festival originally started with just one visiting performer in its first year. This year, that number has grown to 18.
The performers were brought to Saipan at the expense of the association.
The association reached out to many off-island performers for the very first ukulele festival on Saipan, but only one individual from Japan responded, Lee recounted. The next year, that same performer told a colleague from South Korea about the festival and the number of on-island performers continue to grow.
In this year’s edition, the festival featured five Japanese performers, 12 Korean performers, and one Taiwanese performer. Among the notable off-island performers were JazzoomCafe, Mariko Uchiumi, Yusuke Saito and Nanaco from Japan; Blues Lee, Vivian Kim, and the Ukulele Ensemble from Korea; and Vanessa Ding from Taiwan.
Local CNMI performers, meanwhile, included the Saipan Community School, Alana’ia, Tata Lino Olopai & Ray Tebuteb, Sunset Cruisers, FESTPAC Warriors, Da Kine, Demalyn Pagarao, Jose Carreon & Juan Ichihara, and the Ukituki Band, among others.
According to Lee, the festival highlighted the exchange of music and the exchange of culture among the islands’ and visiting performers.
The festival showcased numerous performances that started from 12pm until 9pm.
Lee believes that future ukulele festivals will only get bigger.
