Entrevistas

1. Living in Hawaii after Pearl Harbor

2. Mother taught him how to play the ukulele

3. Inspired to play ukulele after hearing Eddie Kamae

4. How he got on the All-Navy show on Ed Sullivan

5. Friend convinced him to make a record

6. Number 1 Hit "Sushi"

7. Playing 3 shows a night in Waikiki

8. "Song for Anna"

9. Performing in Japan

Ohta,Herb

(n. 1934) Ukelelista de Hawái

Inspired to play ukulele after hearing Eddie Kamae

Then I met Eddie Kamae when I was twelve years old. He was like late teens, like about nineteen. And the amazing thing is, he played for me in this coffee shop, and I was shocked that the ukulele could sound that good. To play all that…those intricate and difficult thing.

He did a lot of things, like playing double picking. [plays ukulele] So I bugged him every weekend, after we were there, didn’t have school, to play for me. He didn’t actually say, do this, do that, do this. You know, he played for me, and by watching, I learned more.

All these things, he started, like Latin music. [plays ukulele]

So in the end, I ended up sounding like him, you know, his style. He told me, you better find your own way of playing, you know, style, because copying somebody isn’t such a great thing, you know. But like anything else, you have to do that in the beginning, I guess. Copy somebody, you know, who you admire or something.

So he took me under his, you know, under his arm, and he really gave me a chance to learn, you know.

Hawái música instrumentos musicales músicos ukelele Estados Unidos

Fecha: August 2012

Zona: Hawai`i, US

Entrevista: John Esaki

País: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Entrevista

Con 78 años de edad, es conocido por los aficionados al ukelele en Japón y en todo el mundo como “Ohta-san”. Ohta-san es un experto ukelelista que aprendió de su madre a tocar el instrumento en Honolulu, antes de la segunda guerra mundial. Ha desempeñado un papel importante en la popularización del ukelele durante las décadas de los 60 y 70, ampliando el repertorio del instrumento al incluir pop internacional y jazz, además de las canciones hawaianas. En su entrevista, Ohta-san demuestra vívidamente su evolución estilística al tocar fragmentos de canciones que fueron significativas para su carrera. (Junio del 2014)