The 2nd episode of Travellers Tales was aired on 13th August 2007 at 8.50 pm on 93.8 Live. In this segment,Yvonne Gomez asked about my faithful ukelele on my travels.The very 1st time I saw someone play the uke was around 1960. He was from the Geylang Methodist Church and had brought along the uke to a picnic. I was about 12 years old then. There is nothing quite like the soothing strains of a ukelele being strummed by a good uke player, by the sea shore and accompanied by the sea breeze, sand and gently rolling waves.
I was mesmerised.
Until then, the only other musical instrument I had tried was a small, cheap Harmonica which I experimented with and taught myself some tunes.
All that changed in 1963 when a classmate of mine sold me his ukelele. It was a gift from his pastor father but he could not play it.
That was how I started on with ukelele playing. I bought a chord book and invented my own strumming style. Over the years, my uke collection increased. Today, I have a handmade
genuine Kamaka ukelele made in Honolulu, Hawaii which is more than 25 years old.
You can hear the sounds of it as I play and sing " The Hukilau" from this segment.
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