Ukulele Music Festival

This past Saturday I went to a Swallow Hill Music sponsored festival in honor of Denver Urban Gardens, at Ruby Hill Park in Denver. I had never been there before, but it is a pretty place with lots of hills and grass.

One of the main events at the festival was a mass ukulele lesson. The organizers were trying to break a record of 851 people playing together, but unfortunately, it didn't happen. It was fun anyway!

I already knew them, and I think the majority of the people there did, too, but we were taught the C, F, and G chords, and then we were able to play and sing King of the Road.

The guy in the red shirt led the lesson. His name is Ukulele Loki.



It was fun. People are so happy and friendly when they have a ukulele in their hands. Ukulele Loki often said, "there's nothing stressful about playing the ukulele," and I think he's right.

Before the lesson a Denver band called Mono Verde played. They refer to their style of music as Latin Reggae, which may seem a little strange, but it is fun to listen to. Here they are:



Also playing a set of music was a guy out of Chicago named Justin Roberts. He does kids music, and by the way people were participating and singing along, he must be pretty popular. It was funny to watch some of the parents who were into it way more than their kids.



I really liked his song about Willy the Whale who Walked on the Water to Weno, Nevada.

The festival ended with concerts by Lucy Kaplansky and Patty Larkin. They each did a set of their own, and then they sang some duets together.



In this picture, Patty is on the left and Lucy the right. They are fantastic and really make me wish I was a professional folk singer/songwriter/guitar player, etc.

Good times!