Mr. & Mrs. Ukulele
For the 38th year, Kathy and Roy Sakuma’s Ukulele Festival is onstage at Kapiolani Park this Sunday, featuring Ohta-San, Holunape and many more
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“I believe that Kathy and I sincerely have been role models for the children since the very beginning,” says Roy.
Roy and Kathy feel good knowing that they have to be doing something right to have been blessed with so many students. Some of their students have grown up to become musicians, such as Jake Shimbukuro, Kelly Boy DeLima and Daniel Ho. Others have gone on to music schools and have become music instructors themselves, and others continue to play the ukulele as a hobby.
Whatever it may be, Roy says that he is so proud of every one of his students.
“I was 7 years old when I starting taking lessons,” says Gina Tomasa, a student of Roy Sakuma Ukulele Studios for seven years and instructor for 15 years. “I look up to them and they’ve become second parents. Roy is an exceptional teacher and that has always awed me.”
Both Kathy and Roy continue to teach, while handling the many other aspects of their business, including their Wildest Show In Town summer concert series at the Honolulu Zoo, which they started in 1986, as well as their music label, Roy Sakuma Productions.
A Bucket of Kindness sits at the edge of the stage each week at the Starbucks’ Wildest Show In Town concert. Each night Roy invites the audience to drop in notes of kindness, which he reads throughout the show. It’s just another of Roy and Kathy’s thoughtful ways of sharing kindness with everyone they touch.
“I continue to learn from Roy that life is all about giving back and serving others,” says Kekoa Kaluhiwa, member of the group Holunape, one of the artists produced under Roy Sakuma Productions. “He always looks to the positive side of things, and encourages others to believe in themselves and strive for their dreams. That’s what makes him not only a great ukulele teacher, but an amazing life mentor.”
The Starbucks Wildest Show in Town is every Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. and runs through Aug. 13. At the free concert an ukulele is given out each week and Roy is emcee for the evening. Performing at this year’s concert, themed “Laughter, Love and Hope,” is Ohta-San July 30, Holunape Aug. 6 and Jimmy Borges & Friends Aug. 13. Each event concludes with everyone singing, I Am What I Am, a song Roy wrote more than 30 years ago.
The production company, like many of their other endeavors, began with an ambitious idea followed up by a whole lot of hard work. One day Ohta-San mentioned he wanted to record another album and Kathy said, ‘We’ll do it.’ And they were hooked.
Kaau Crater Boys, Daniel Ho, Herb Ohta Jr. Holunape and Manoa DNA are a handful of artists who have recorded under Roy Sakuma Productions.
“Roy and Kathy first heard us (Holunape) perform at the Willows Restaurant in 2000,” says Kaluhiwa, Holunape’s upright bassist. “After our performance one evening, Roy quietly approached us, introduced himself (as if we didn’t know who he was), complimented our music and encouraged us to do a recording. He offered to help us record if we ever decided to do it. It took us three years to make the decision to record, and during that time, Roy never lost touch with us. Once we decided to record, it took another three years. Kathy and Roy never stopped believing in us.”
Taking the ukulele into the schools and introducing it to the children beyond their studios is another ongoing project for the pair. The hope is to have ukuleles in all the schools and for Roy to share his positive messages of pursuing your dreams and finding a passion.
“For me, I really feel that we need to continue going to the schools and helping children,” says Roy. “I’ve always had this yearning to want to help, so it’s so neat that we’re going back to the elementary school system to introduce them to the ukulele. I’ll play a couple songs and talk to them about positive things in life. We share our song that I wrote, I Am What I Am, and that sends a beautiful message to the children. I hope that Kathy and I can go to as many elementary schools. And all they’ve got to do is call, because I don’t think ‘no’ will be in our vocabulary.”
And while Kathy says that they should be looking toward retirement, Roy can’t seem to keep himself from wanting to keep pushing forward.
“The ukulele is so important to me because I feel that it changed my direction in life,” says Roy. “It gave me goals, and I want to share that.”
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