Nicky Bomba, who has visited the north many times with his reggae band Bomba, and most recently as a drummer for John Butler, will conduct and sing the song during the proceedings in Fogarty Park on Saturday July 7^th.  Free ‘learn to play’ workshops are planned in the lead up to the festival and at Fogarty Park on the day of the attempt.

“Although the bar has been raised last year by a town in Sweden and we now really have a challenge on our hands, we’re doing it again! The experience of so many people making music together and getting together for a common goal is just so good; it’s almost addictive! Many people told me it’s one of the most memorable things they have ever been part of”, festival organiser Gaby Thomasz said. “If everyone that was there last year brings along a friend, we have a chance of breaking the record”.

There is an instructional video on the festival web site with Nicky Bomba teaching people how to play and strum the song as well as the song sheet with chords and lyrics. 

The Cairns Ukulele Festival is pleased to announce the return of AJ Leonard’s Tropical Lounge a fantastic 4-piece band from Melbourne.

Whilst in Cairns, AJ will be releasing his seventh album, Australian Songbook, produced and arranged with Tropical Lounge partner David.

AJ will also conduct two workshops at the festival. One is themed around his new album, the Australian Songbook. In this workshop AJ covers various strums as well as interesting chord sequences and inversions. The other workshop is based on the American Songbook, with a strong focus on the music of Henry Mancini, whose familiar classics include Peter Gunn, Baby Elephant Walk, Moon River and The Pink Panther. AJ will share some of the unique strumming and picking techniques he has become renowned for.

Also scheduled is a workshop by Hawaiian virtuoso Derick Sebastian that will teach participants how to solo and fingerpick in various keys, and a workshop by fulare_pad. Fulare_pad will conduct their absolute beginners workshop in Japanese.

For an overview of all the workshops and links to the schedule and booking site, please follow this link.

Paul Okami

The Cairns Ukulele Festival is extremely proud to be hosting a 2-day ukulele building workshop, facilitated by the good guys from KoAloha Ukuleles, Hawaii! In this two day workshop, you will have fun with some of the KoAloha crew, while assembling your very own genuine KoAloha ukulele. You’ll be sweating, sanding, and gluing, and learning along the way. At the end of day two, you will be the owner of a brand new custom built KoAloha ukulele!

Established by Alvin Okami in the mid-nineties, KoAloha is one of the most respected ukulele brands in the world, known for their craftmanship, tone and also unique aesthetics.  Many of our ukulele festival performers play KoAloha, including Daniel Ho, Victoria Vox, who graced the stage last year, and this year’s headliner, Herb Ohta Jr.

Alvin’s sons Alan and Paul Okami will be conducting this workshop with KoAloha master builder “Griz” as a one-off for the Cairns Ukulele Festival, giving you the exclusive opportunity to gain a rare insight into the ukulele building process, ukulele set-up, with the added bonus of owning your custom built KoAloha ukulele at the end of it!

This workshop is designed for absolute beginners, people with little or no woodworking experience, and is suitable for ages 10 and over (under 14′s need to be supervised by an adult).

For more information, please follow this link.

Both artists, and all of the other international artists will perform at the Tanks Arts Centre on Sunday July 8th. Australian artists will be announced in the next performer line-up, so it will be a jam-packed day of entertainment, covering a huge range of music styles!

Tickets are now available at the incredible early bird price of $50 (adults) / $40 (child 5-12)!

Capacity to the Tanks Arts Centre is strictly limited and tickets will sell out, so get your tickets today!

Follow this link to book your tickets

Derick Sebastian (Hawaii)

If you’d like to be a part of this magical experience, get your ticket(s) as soon as possible! Follow this link for more information.

Tickets for the concerts at the Tanks Arts Centre (8 July) will go on sale late next week.

All aboard! Join the Cairns Ukulele Festival artists on this original 22 tonne double decker bus and cruise the sights of Cairns ukulele party style! We’ll be visiting beaches, rainforest and a local pub, enjoying live performances along the way!

Feature artists on this tour are fulare_pad from Japan!

Your hosts are experienced local tour guide Luke Walker and ukulele party animal Craig Chee!

Included in your tour:

• bus sightseeing tour
• live performances and heaps of jamming
• lunch (including vegetarian options)

Follow this link for more details and to book your space! Tickets go on sale Friday 13 April, 9am.

Capacity is extremely limited so book early!

Follow this link for more details about the workshops.

Have you always wanted to own a Hawaiian ukulele? Why don’t you build one! Hawaiian ukulele builders from Koaloha, the brand played by many of the world’s ukulele superstars, including Herb Ohta Jr. will be conducting a 2-day workshop in the week leading up to the festival.

For more information about this ukulele building workshop, please click on this link.

Stay tuned for more artist and show announcements later this week!

Instructors: Herb Ohta Jr., Paul Hemmings, Manitoba Hal, Aaron Keim, Craig Chee

Bookings open Tuesday morning (27 March) at 9am. For the schedule, and booking info, please follow this link. Workshop contents can be found here.

Capacity is limited for all workshops and we always sell out so book early!

Alan Okami, 2012 festival artist Herb Ohta Jr., Paul Okami

Established by Alvin Okami in the mid-nineties, KoAloha is one of the most respected ukulele brands in the world, known for their craftmanship, tone and also unique aesthetics.  Many of our ukulele festival performers play KoAloha, including Daniel Ho, Brittni Paiva, Victoria Vox, who graced the stage last year, and this year’s headliner, Herb Ohta Jr.

Alvin’s sons Alan and Paul Okami will be conducting this workshop with KoAloha master builder “Griz” as a one-off for the Cairns Ukulele Festival, giving you the exclusive opportunity to gain a rare insight into the ukulele building process, ukulele set-up, with the added bonus of owning your custom built KoAloha ukulele at the end of it!

This workshop is designed for absolute beginners, people with little or no woodworking experience, and is suitable for ages 10 and over (under 14′s need to be supervised by an adult). The wood used is Hawaiian koa and mahogany for the neck, your choice between a soprano or concert scale neck.

Ukulele building classes are great fun and allow you to learn new skills, make new friends, and also offer a great opportunity for parents and children to undertake an activity together during the school holidays. This is a unique way to build your own top notch ukulele under tutelage of Hawaiian experts!

Dates are Wednesday 4 July and Thursday 5 July 2012.

For more information on this workshop and to book your space, follow this link. But be quick, only a limited amount of spaces are available!

Greg Dwyer (artist), Gaby Thomasz (festival organiser), and Bob McGill (COUCH)

Every year, the Cairns Ukulele Festival hosts a charity art exhibition to help raise funds for charity. Dozens of artists are given a ukulele and freedom to create a unique piece of art. The past two years we have raised thousands for the Duchenne Foundation (2010) and Harald’s House (2011). For images from last year’s exhibition, please follow this link

This year, the nominated charity is COUCH. COUCH is a local charity, started by Charles and Pip Woodward in 2006. COUCH aims to bring about a complete health and well-being centre to enhance the likelihood that people will beat cancer.

The Cairns Ukulele Festival also strives to create a unique poster design each year. Local artist Greg Dwyer designed the artwork for this year’s festival poster. Greg’s inspiration for this piece is the underground tiki art, with an erupting Mt Bartle Frere, a unique Queenslander home, native animals as well as a tiki totem pole and hula girl with ukulele.

Greg has donated this piece to the exhibition, and thus to the benefiting charity. Final bids night this year takes place after the main concert day of the Cairns Ukulele Festival, July 8th at the Tanks Arts Centre.

“The Cairns Ukulele Club is very excited about this year’s art exhibition, which will once again include works from many excellent artists. Greg Dwyer’s painting is not only a fantastic poster design, but it is the icing on the cake in terms of this exhibition and we are sure we will raise a record amount of money for charity with this painting and all of the decorated ukes. COUCH has already achieved so much in the past, and we are delighted to be able to contribute to it’s goals to provide more facilities for cancer sufferers and other patients at the Cairns Base Hospital as well”, festival organiser Gaby Thomasz said.

The Uke Art Exhibition will open 22 June at the Tanks Arts Centre. The final bids event will take place after the main concert day of the festival, July 8th, also at the Tanks.