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Ben Hassenger
About Ben
Ben Hassenger is known as the "Ukulele Ambassador of Michigan" for good reason. After a 2009 visit to Hawaii, he was hooked on the ukulele and over the past 11 years has founded the Lansing Area Ukulele Group (LAUGH), the Mighty Uke Day festival, Midwest Uke & Harmonica Camp, Uketoberfest at Interlochen, and the Hiawatha Music Co-op's Yooper Uke Week. He also runs the Ashokan Uke Fest in New York and established Music is the Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that supports ukulele music programs in Michigan classrooms and communities. He performs and teaches at a variety of uke events across the US and Canada, spreading the joy and camaraderie the "jumping flea" brings to people. He is born and raised in Lansing MI, but spends much of his summer at his family home R his Upper Peninsula home in Ishpeming. He played for years with the world-beat band Mystic Shake and now performs with The Ukulele Kings. A big fan of baseball, he has two songs about the Detroit Tigers in Coopertown's National Baseball Hall of Fame.