Stories and interviews
128 posts
Three Years of Outtakes
Tamás GállAs the end of the year approaches, besides football my other favourite kind of sports programme starts appearing on television: the compilation of funny sporting moments collected throughout the year, shown on Eurosport under the title WATTS. The Ukulele Blog will be three years old in a few days, a…
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Size Doesn't Matter II
Tamás GállLast year I already posted a similar article with two videos. Now here is another unmissable recording featuring a mini ukulele about the size of a matchbox and the enormous, roughly concert-to-tenor-sized ukulele accompanying it :). A barre covering all four strings can be held with roughly one to…
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The Youngest Padawan
Tamás GállDear Ukulele Players! A new love entered my life a few days ago, which is why I have not been able to make fresh posts or videos. My little daughter was born. She has no idea yet how much fun playing the ukulele is, but I hope she will find out soon! I did not put her hand there - it happened comple…
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Pink Martini
Tamás GállThis unusually named band is twenty years old this year, and I am sorry that I discovered them only recently. (In an earlier ukulele test post — KALA KA-S — I strum along to one of their best-known songs.) The group was founded in 1994 by a rather over-animated pianist, and they have been performing…
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Thoughts of a Ukulele Player
Tamás Gáll“So I bought the ukulele. I wonder whether it will sound good. I hope the strings are all right too. Hopefully they will settle quickly and tuning will not be a problem. Will the factory setup work, or will something need filing after a few weeks?” ...a few months pass... “An electro-acoustic one wo…
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Four Strings, Five Years
Tamás GállDear Ukulele Players! Please allow me a little nostalgia in this year's final blog post, because exactly five years ago, on 30 December 2010, the Hungaria Ukulele Blog was launched. Happy fifth birthday! :) :) Five years may not be long enough for truly monumental nostalgia, but it is still a milest…
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Ukulele Christmas
Tamás GállI received a kind request from Ben, who devotes his life to playing the ukulele and travelling . He has just made a Christmas ukulele album and asked me to write my opinion of it. I was happy to oblige. He sent me the album as a Christmas present, I listened to it, and I can say nothing but good thi…
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Ukulele meetup – 10 August 2017
Tamás GállI would like to invite you to a ukulele meetup on Thursday, 10 August 2017, starting at 5:30 p.m. – arriving later is fine – in Budapest, very close to Puskás Ferenc Stadium. The exact address is Kerepesi út 26. We will finish at around 8:00-8:30 p.m., or earlier if everyone leaves, and later if we…
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Report from the ukulele meetup
Tamás GállI arrived excitedly at the venue of yesterday's ukulele meetup shortly before 5 p.m. Loaded down with ukuleles, I made my way inside, and it was not long before the first “colleagues” arrived. My first thought on seeing the venue was that it was rather dark – how were we going to find the chords? –…
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Caro Emerald brought the house down in Budapest
Tamás GállI got home from the concert only a few minutes ago and I am still completely under its spell. I had a fantastic time. I discovered Caro Emeralda few years ago when YouTube was playing random songs and suddenly I thought: “What on earth is this unbelievably good music, and who is singing it?” She is…
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Ukulele workshop with David Chen
Tamás GállWe warmly invite everyone to join us at 5:30 p.m. on 25 July 2018 at Valyo Kikötő, near the Pest end of Rákóczi Bridge, where internationally recognised Taiwanese ukulele artist and teacher David Chen will hold a workshop. We will finish with a short concert and some group playing. The event is bein…
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Report from David Chen's workshop
Tamás GállOrganising this historic workshop was exciting because it was the first workshop in Hungary led by an internationally recognised ukulele teacher. I hardly know where to begin this report because I am still very much under the influence of the event. First, I would like to repeat briefly the words of…
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