This year there were $5,000 worth of ukes up for grabs in a free drawing. Over the years, Sakuma estimates the Great Waikoloa Ukulele Festival has received over a million dollars in instrument donations from various manufactures.
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He has become a virtuoso on the instrument, and like Sakuma, has overcome life’s setbacks by learning how to play the ukulele. Acosta was born with just one fully functional arm which fingers chords and notes, while his half-formed right arm strums the strings with a small thumb-like appendage. Although he only teaches now, Sakuma was assisted on stage by his prized ukulele students: Lee Teraoka, Lopaka Pagdilao, Lauren Baba, and Nick Acosta. With laser pointer in hand, Sakuma directed their attention to chords and lyrics projected on a giant screen behind him. The room was packed with roughly 300 enthusiastic strummers of all shapes, colors, and ages, much like the instruments they held dearly to their bodies. Sakuma began Saturday with a free ukulele workshop in a ballroom at the Marriott Beach Resort. Thirty years ago, Sakuma began an annual ukulele festival on Oahu, and this past weekend marked the nineteenth year of a similar festival in Waikoloa. “They said before I came to help, the high school graduation rate was only 55%, but by 2015 it had gone up to 98%… they were amazed nobody left the program.” Roy Sakuma “It was a big surprise to me,” said Sakuma of the honor. In 2015, Sakuma received the FBI’s Community Leadership Award for time spent speaking to school children about his experiences regarding bullying, suicide, and insecurity. “A very dear friend of mine, who is a strong Christian, said, ‘Roy you didn’t write that song – that was divine intervention because it just came out of you!’” In 1970, Sakuma penned a song called “I Am What I Am,” which, in a way, was therapeutic and helped rid years of childhood guilt and blame. “My life was in shambles then – why go on living?,” reflected Sakuma in an interview I did with him at last Saturday’s ukulele workshop at the 19th annual Great Waikoloa Ukulele Festival. Sakuma still looks back at the encounter as a major turning point in his career and life. Formerly in the military, Ohta taught the teen discipline and how to play the four-stringed instrument. A life changing moment came a few years later when he met ukulele master Herb “Ohta-San” Ohta.
Angry, hurt, and confused, the troubled teen abandoned high school, and wandered the streets at night, as a bitter rage grew inside him. When Sakuma’s father stayed away from the house to avoid the chaos, Sakuma lost confidence in himself. His mother suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, as did his older brother, who once threatened Sakuma with a kitchen knife. Fifty-five years ago, Roy Sakuma was ready to give up on life.
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