striking a chord
N.S. Ukulele Hall of Fame moving to Truro
The Marigold Cultural Centre will come to life this weekend with the sound of ukuleles. The concert is a celebration of the Nova Scotia Ukulele Hall of Fame’s move from Liverpool to Truro.
Two of the best ukulele players in the world will be on stage at the Marigold in Truro Saturday.
Chalmers Doane and friends, and James Hill and Anne Janelle are each playing a set at the evening concert of the second Marigold Ukulele Festival.
This first festival was in 2015 and featured, like this one, a full day of ukulele workshops. This year’s instructors are Hill, Doane and his daughter Suzanne Doane.
But this year organizers have also added the evening concert as a way to celebrate the transfer of the Nova Scotia Ukulele Hall of Fame from Liverpool to Truro.
A new member of the hall of fame will be inducted Saturday night between the performances.
The hall of fame has until now been a part of Liverpool’s International Ukulele Ceilidh – four players have been inducted: Chalmers Doane, James Hill, John Kavanagh and Sandra Obritsch.
But the Liverpool organizers contacted the Marigold last year to see if the Truro performance centre would consider housing citations and photos and hosting the induction ceremony during their ukulele festival.
“Given that Truro is the birthplace of Chalmers Doane and that James Hill lives in Brookfield it seems like a fitting place to have it,” says Angela Dwyer, one of the organizers of the Marigold Ukulele Festival.
The festival only runs every two years and Dwyer says they chose January to liven up the winter in Truro.
“Some people get the January blues but when you’re playing the ukulele, it is hard to feel blue,” says Dwyer.
She says the ukulele is a great beginner instrument but also versatile.
“It is a great first instrument – it only has four strings – but you can pick a melody, you can sing and strum, you can solo and you can take it as far as you want. It is small and portable – you can play it in the car, you can carry it on an airplane. It is a wonderful instrument,” said Dwyer.
The workshop registration is limited to 75 and organizer Dwyer said as of Wednesday they only had three spots left.
The evening concert costs $25 and the Marigold still had lots of tickets available Wednesday.
For more information, check out the Marigold Ukulele Festival website at www. ukuleleintheclassroom.com/ marigold/