Taiwan International Online Ukulele Festival

A few days ago I received a message from David Chen inviting the Hungaria ukulele community to the virtual event named in the title of this post. It is a genuine honour to be invited, because David is one of those ukulele players who travel the world spreading the word — that making music is good and playing ukulele is good — and he is an internationally recognised player as well. David visited Hungary a few years ago and treated us to an excellent ukulele workshop at Valyo Kikötő, a venue that has since closed.

I hope many of you pick up a ukulele and submit a video to show the world what the Hungaria ukulele community can do . The rules are as follows — copied from the registration page with a few additions of my own:

• The video may be no longer than 8 minutes.
• The video must be recent. At the beginning, introduce yourself and say a few words about the current situation in your country. (Obviously it would be awkward to edit last year's performance onto a brand-new introduction. And yes, they are interested in the country's current situation, not a historical presentation. Suggested topics, then: Hungary's HUF 480 petrol-price cap, the expected return of the historical county terminology, and the new licence-plate format from 1 July .)
• The introduction should be in Chinese or English, but it may also be in Hungarian if you add subtitles. (Obviously most of you will choose the first option .)
• The registration form asks for a short written introduction. I assume this is what will accompany the video on Facebook, because that is where the submitted performances will be presented.
• Videos must be submitted by 31 July.
• Upload the video to YouTube using the following title format: [2022 Taiwan International Online Ukulele Festival] - YOUR NAME - SONG TITLE - COUNTRY — in our case Hungary .

David also wrote that he would be happy to receive a Hungarian song. That is a very good idea, although I am not sure which way it would work out: the international audience might simply find it interesting to hear how a Hungarian song sounds with ukulele accompaniment and put it in the “interesting” category, while they might be better able to judge a song they already know internationally. Everyone can decide that for themselves . As far as I know there are no prizes, but I think the opportunity to participate is a reward in itself.

I asked David whether there was any requirement for the video to include singing or whether it could be fingerstyle only (I also take part every year in another online ukulele festival where only solo fingerstyle arrangements may be submitted). At the Taiwan International Online Ukulele Festival there is no such restriction: the important thing is that the performance includes at least one ukulele. It may also feature singing, another ukulele (or even many of them), but the production must be built around the ukulele.

So that is it in a nutshell. I hope as many of you as possible will submit a video. I would especially appreciate it if you also shared your creation in the Facebook group as well!

And here is the application link: participation in the Taiwan International Online Ukulele Festival