Sunday, August 10, 2008

Hiram Bell in Concert


I've been taking 'ukulele lessons from Hiram Bell for the last couple of months. He's a phenomenal teacher, willing to attack many different musical styles and one of the few who has a passion for rock and roll. Hiram also provides a firm grounding in music theory and I'm a real theory geek!  As I mentioned in the previous post, I got to travel to Waikiki to play with his band at the largest 'ukulele festival in the world!

Hiram hails from Honolulu, having studied at the historic Kawaihao Church in Honolulu as well as at the University of Hawaii.  He played a concert at Mike DaSilva's Berkeley studio in early August where he held the audience's attention with his unique arrangements of songs like Jessica by the Allman Brothers, Here Comes the Sun by George Harrison, not to mention many wonderful Hawaiian tunes.  A good time was had by all!