Alex’s tale begins at age two, when he saw master ‘ukulele player Franz Twiddlefingers perform at a local irish pub. He was instantly mesmerized and watched as expert Franz diddled his way up and down the fret board. Inspired, Alex jumped on his Hot Wheels and raced home. As he prepared for bed, he kneeled at the foot of his crib and began to pray. “Dear ‘ukulele fairy, I want a ukulele tomorrow. Thank you.”

The next morning, alex awoke with a strange pain in his neck. He investigated his sleeping situation and noticed a large lumpy object under his pillow. He rolled over, spit out his sucker and gasped as he saw a brand new ‘ukulele lying on his bed. Unfortunately, he had dreamt a nightmare during the night and ended up smashing the new ‘ukulele to pieces. Luckily though, his Mom came in, saw the smashed ‘ukulele, and immediately ran to Sears to replace it.

Alex continued his infatuation with the ‘ukulele through his childhood and played the little instrument constantly. Eventually learning basic chords from his father, it wasn’t until age 10 that Alex took official lessons from ‘ukulele legend and sensei, Roy Sakuma.

Roy noticed something peculiar about Alex though, he played everything upside-down and backwards. Roy tried to teach Alex the proper way to play it as a right-handed person, but Alex would just go home after and re-learn his lesson backwards. Alex eventually made it up to the coveted “Super Keiki” ranks at age 11, and continued into high school perfecting the instrument.

Alex was always musical and could play any instrument he picked up, with relative ease, but nothing appealed to him as much as the four string “jumping flea” that he grew up mastering. He experimented with many different instruments including the Balalaika, the Uncello, the Skatar, and various percussion instruments.

Alex’s homemade Skatar, circa 1992.

Around his junior year in high school, Alex began to realize that he had a passion for all facets of music. He began a band together with some of his friends called “Pa’ani,” and performed at various events on and off campus. He also recorded his first two albums at his home studio; one by his own group, Pa’ani, and the other by Pono Nu’uhiwa. Building steam and become more adept at every step of the way, Alex grew into the musician he is today.

*ManoaDNA.com Authenticity Warning: Parts of this biography were embellished for entertainment purposes. For a complete, authentic version of this biography, please contact Manoa DNA.