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) Tocador de Ukulele do Havaí

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

We had to get up in the morning—four thirty in the morning, hold reveille, and we had to march to the cafeteria, even if we didn’t want to eat.

I was so mad, and then…they almost court-martialed me because I opened the locker room and I had the rifle hanging on the top shelf by the butt with the muzzle end facing down, and the thing fell down and hit my bare foot, right, and I broke three bones over there. And I could hardly walk to the mess hall. So what happened was, they had me on guard duty permanently. In the barracks, I used to wake them up in the morning. But I had this cast on, just for that foot.

And then I saw something on the desk of the front office, and it said, auditions for Ed Sullivan Show. You know, hey…what is this? So I asked my sister to send me my ukulele. And I auditioned at Mission Ballroom in San Diego and won, and from there, we went to Patuxent, Maryland, and then went to the St. Albans Hospital in New York and the Ed Sullivan Show.

forças armadas Havaí militares música instrumentos musicais músicos ukulele Estados Unidos da América

Data: August 2012

Localização Geográfica: Hawai`i, US

Entrevistado: John Esaki

País: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Entrevistados

78 anos de idade, Herb Ohta é conhecido pelos fãs de ukulele no Japão e em todo o mundo como "Ohta-san". Ohta-san é um tocador mestre de ukulele que aprendeu a tocar o instrumento com sua mãe no período pré-Segunda Guerra Mundial, em Honolulu. Ele desempenhou um papel importante na popularização do ukulele nas décadas de 60 e 70, ampliando o repertório do instrumento para além de canções havaianas, incluindo pop internacional e jazz. Em sua entrevista, Ohta-san vividamente demonstra sua revolução estilística tocando trechos de músicas que foram importantes para sua carreira. (Junho de 2014)