San Diego Is California’s second largest city. Home of the ‘Chargers’, Top Gun, ‘The best weather in the world’ and of course Ron Burgundy, it is known as a laid back city with endless beautiful beaches, year round sunshine and a rich and diverse mix of cultures.  

With it’s seemingly endless sunshine and beaches, it is not a surprise that the city has a thriving ukulele scene with players and fans enjoying the island sound in the uke clubs as well as the many Tiki bars that are dotted around the San Diego coastline.  

The mellow island culture that the ukulele epitomises is seeing a resurgence at the moment, but in San Diego, a ‘big small town’ it has never gone away.

Festivals

Every September for the last three years, the San Diego Ukulele Festival organised by local ukelele master Gerald Ross has provided a sparkling weekend of music, hula, and sun kissed fun. With two stages, one for traditional music and one for uke takes on a wide variety of musical styles. The weekend also features ukelele workshops and of course Hawaiian and street food and arts and crafts. The festival is designed to appeal to all ages and is always a great weekend out in the San Diego sunshine

Groups 

San Diego has dozens of ukulele clubsand four chapters of the Ukulele Society of America.  

Sneaky Tiki has been meeting every Tuesday for years, they have regular jams as well as organising classes and workshops for all levels. The group emphasise that they are not traditionalists and all styles of music are welcome at their uke meetings. They have just started the woonderfully named Sea Turtle class for beginners or more casual players  

With over 900 members, the largest group in San Diego is the Hau`oli Strummers. Hau`oli is Hawaiian for ‘happy’ and this group also emphasises that their emphasis is to create an informal and fun atmosphere with their ‘strum along’ format meaning that everyone can join in no matter what their level. They also organise community events and live shows regularly

Artists

As you would expect from a city with such a large uke and music scene, San Diego is home to a number of famous players, San Diego band Nickel Creek are probably the most notable local proponents of the instrument.

Probably the most famous uke player from San Diego is Del Rey, although now based in Seattle, the blues legend originally hails from San Diego. Most famous for ‘Dad Blues’ and ‘Atheist Blues’, as well as an internationally respected blues artist, she is also one of the greatest ukulele players today.  

Another legendary player is Gerald Ross who organises the city’s main festival. Also a highly accomplished musician, Ross has worked with many of the greats of American folk and blues including Arlo Guthrie and Bonnie Raitt

A more current band hailing from San Diego are Aloha Espana. A collaboration between Pepe Romero and Daniel Ho, they are, as the name implies a fusion of Hawaiian and Spanish traditional music, with incredible results.

https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/SDUkulele/

https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/sneakytiki/events/ 

https://www.facebook.com/pg/The-San-Diego-Ukulele-Festival-111733668912024/about/?ref=page_internal