Yeah, I just played, like tried to build a show, an exciting show of musical talent, you know, one after another. Try to cram an hour’s music time into like forty-five minutes or something.
We used to play like three shows a night, I think, at the Ilikai Hotel and they had a cover charge, $2.50 or something. And that place was lined up! That’s when things were good in the late 60’s. Locals came out to Waikiki, and they had a line all the way down to the street.
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
Interviewee Bio
78-years-old, is known by ukulele fans in Japan and around the world as "Ohta-san." Ohta-san is a master ukulele player who learned to play the instrument from his mother in the pre-World War II era in Honolulu. He played a major role in popularizing the ukulele in the 1960s and 70s, expanding the repertoire of the instrument beyond Hawai`ian songs to include international pop and jazz. In his interview, Ohta-san vividly demonstrates his stylistic development by playing excerpts from songs that were significant to his career. (June 2014)