Ukulele beginners and upcoming masters of the Langley Ukulele Ensemble performed a message of hope for wildfire victims of the Maui town Lahaina, which was devastated by a fire earlier this month.
Peter Luongo, a ukulele master who taught in the August summer camp, said Hawaiian ukulele artists Sarah Maisel and Craig Chee – whom he met through his international travels performing the uke – reached out to him.
“They said, ‘we’d be honoured if you could send a video of hope, a message giving inspiration for the people of Lahaina’,” Luongo told the Langley Advance Times.
“I said I’d be honoured to do it.”
Luongo saw an opportunity to make the message with the ukulele summer camp.
“I had this vision… I taught the students a song called ‘Hawaii Aloha,’ which is a song about unity [and] the love they have and the blessing they have in their land – which has been devastated,” he said.
It was also a chance to educate local youth about connection.
“I have this connection through the ukulele, and now we have a second connection as our province experiences the same issue as Lahaina – we have these wildfires and thousands of hectares of forests that have been destroyed,” Luongo said.
The students in uke camp performed the message of hope on Friday, Aug. 25, to wrap up their final day of summer camp.
“This is a uniting experience,” he said.
Maisel and Chee are also organizing a livestream of ukulele players as a fundraiser to support those impacted by the fires in Lahaina.
It will feature music and stories from Maui ukulele players and artists who have a connection to the island, including Jake Shimabukuro, Herb Ohta Jr., and Jeff Peterson, among others.
The livestream is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 16 at noon (PT), and can be watched on their YouTube channel.
The concert is free, but donations are encouraged as proceeds go towards Lahaina residents impacted by the fires.
To donate, people can email Chee and Maisel at CheeMaisel@gmail.com.
For more information, visit craigandsarah.com.
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