“I’m really interested in pushing boundaries with the ukulele,” said Stuart Fuchs, a local multi-instrumentalist and ukulele enthusiast ahead of UkeFest Virginia this weekend. “[I’m excited about] really expanding the music of the ukulele to try and bring something to it that wasn’t done before.”
The third annual UkeFest Virginia will take place from Friday, November 7th through Saturday, November 8th at the Cultural Arts Center in Glen Allen.
“I’m really interested in pushing boundaries with the ukulele,” said Stuart Fuchs, a local multi-instrumentalist and ukulele enthusiast ahead of UkeFest Virginia this weekend. “[I’m excited about] really expanding the music of the ukulele to try and bring something to it that wasn’t done before.”
The third annual UkeFest Virginia will take place from Friday, November 7th through Saturday, November 8th at the Cultural Arts Center in Glen Allen. As an instrument almost anyone can play, the ukulele has inspired a fad of recurring UkeFests across the US. Following suit, UkeFest Virginia will feature concerts, workshops, informal jam-sessions, open mic sessions, vendors, and artisans.
Performers include but are not limited to two-time Grammy Award Winner Marcy Marxer, Gerald Ross, Fuchs, The Aloha Boys, and the Broad Street Ramblers.
Festival-goers will have the opportunity to play along with some of these acts in the Ukenanny Concerts taking place on Saturday. Workshops will also be offered during the festival, where attendees can learn from their favorite performers regardless of experience.
The weekend will start off on Friday with concerts from 7pm-9pm on the Sam Ash Music stage, featuring music by the Broad Street Ramblers and Stuart Fuchs. Most of the action happens on Saturday in a full day of concerts, workshops, open mic opportunities, craft and food vendors, and artisan displays. The Finale Jam, featuring many artists playing individual concerts, will bring the festival to a close at 10pm on Saturday.
Fuchs has performed a wide variety of music from classical to jazz to world, adapting different styles for the ukulele. He’s also widely known for his gypsy-jazz group Babik, a nationally touring band playing the music of Django Reinhardt.
It was with this band Fuchs had the opportunity to perform arrangements of Django Reinhardt’s music with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then, Fuchs has performed at multiple UkeFests and performs with his girlfriend/stand-up bass player Sarah Carlisle.
Fuchs has also developed a habit of playing ukulele spontaneously in public spaces such as bus stops, supermarkets, and hospitals. This started when he first started playing ukulele, making a habit of strumming chords on the bus on the way to work. He began to realize that a few little chords had the ability to make people start to smile and even talk to each other. “I love to change the atmosphere of a place with music. Not really so much as performance but as sort of like, ‘How can I serve this atmosphere?’” says Fuchs.
Fuchs has acted as Artist-in-Residence at Roswell Park Cancer Institute for over four years, and is currently in the midst of a ten-day residency through the National Endowment for the Arts. As part of the residency, he records his music in Roswell Park Center, working directly with cancer patients and their families, as well as the hospital staff, to create a dynamic performance piece centered around the healing of the patients.
Gregg Kimball, a member of The Broad Street Ramblers, discussed what he likes about UkeFest Virginia. “It’s for people with all levels of ability,” he says. “It has workshops, jamming going on; it’s not just concerts. We’ve got a really good community vibe with a lot of people supporting each other and learning.”
The Broad Street Ramblers will mainly play Hawaiian tunes, but will also perform a set of songs that people might find a bit unusual for the ukulele. Following the lead of a local Virginia performer by the name of Rabbit Muse, the band will perform blues on ukulele by working some of his tunes into their set list. They will also take influence from early country performers of the 20s and 30s who incorporated ukulele into their music.
The Aloha Boys primarily play both traditional and contemporary Hawaiian music. Their history is impressive: they once played a nine-hour gig with only one repeated song in the whole nine hours. They played at the National Cathedral when the senior Senator from Hawaii died. They’ve even played Carnegie Hall. As part of their third year at UkeFest Virginia, they are encouraging audience members to bring their ukuleles and play along with the band. “We’ve come up with songs that have easy progressions that a whole range of abilities can still play,” says Glen Hirabayashi of The Aloha Boys.
Tickets are available to purchase now ($15 each in advance, $18 at the door). There is also an area of the festival that is free of charge, where open mic sessions, mini-concerts, and spontaneous jam sessions take place. There will be food vendors, merchants, and artisans in this area of the festival as well. Information about purchasing tickets can be found online at ukefestva.com/tickets.html. Links to videos of performers and teaching artists can be found at ukefestva.com/news—links.html.
