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Wednesday, February 04, 2026

Gainesville ukulelists gather for teenage virtuoso Feng E

The “America’s Got Talent” Taiwanese ukulele player stops at Heartwood on his Southeast tour

Feng E performs, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, at Heartwood Soundstage in Gainesville, Fla.
Feng E performs, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, at Heartwood Soundstage in Gainesville, Fla.

Though Feng E has performed in the United States before, he has never travelled to the country during winter. He’s not a fan of the cold. 

The current climate isn’t the only difference between Gainesville and Feng E’s home country of Taiwan, he said. America is louder. 

“Here, people accept more rock and roll,” Feng E said.

So naturally, an intimate room of nearly 50 locals welcomed the teenage ukulele shredder at Heartwood Soundstage Monday night. Tucked away from frigid 40-degree temperatures, the inside stage hosted 18-year-old Feng E for an hour and a half of his virtuosic playing. 

Feng E, currently on his Southeast tour of the U.S., made his claim to fame at 10 years old when his performance of Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel’s version of “Classical Gas” went viral. The ukulelist has since appeared on “The Ellen DeGenerous Show,” “Asia’s Got Talent” and “America’s Got Talent.”

“He’s so cute!” said an audience member during his set. “He’s so young!” said another. His blurry, lightning-fast plucking and strumming seemed anything but juvenile, however. 

With a leg up on an amp like a common rockstar, headbanging with impassioned expressions, he hammered away at his instruments that resembled miniature four-string Les Pauls. He covered hits from Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” to Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” and performed many originals, like "Expedition" from his upcoming album. 

In between songs, he cracked jokes, saying that he’d have to record his next record on his iPhone if attendees didn’t buy enough of his merchandise. 

Many of the entertained audience members in attendance are ukulelists themselves. 

Cecily Paige, who sat in the second row, is a member of the Ukulele Club of Gainesville. Though her voice is her main instrument, she took up ukulele to accompany her singing. 

Prior to the show’s start, Paige observed the gear onstage: two electric ukuleles, an electric banjo and effects pedals. 

“That just inspires us as club members to not be afraid of trying new things,” she said of Feng E’s impressive setup. 

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Paige turned to friend Skip Snow during the intermission and said they needed to invest in electric ukuleles. 

Snow is also a member of the Ukulele Club of Gainesville and has been playing the instrument since the late ‘90s. Inspired by ukulelists like Jake Shimabukuro — dubbed the “Jimi Hendrix of ukulele” who performed at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in November — Snow discovered Feng E thanks to his ukulele-centered YouTube algorithm. 

He said Feng E and other young ukulelists are part of the instrument’s new resurgence and are taking the craft in new directions. 

“It’s especially exciting to see ukulele players writing original tunes, writing original music,” he said. “... It encourages others, and there's more opportunity for creative expression.” 

Deena Schuman is also a long-time ukulelist and has been playing for nearly a decade. She said she aspires to play as well as Feng E. 

When asked why it is important for Gainesville to host international musicians like Feng E, Schuman had two words: cultural enrichment. 

“This is a beautiful thing to be able to just go downtown and watch these players who played their whole lives,” she said. 

Contact Isabel Kraby at ikraby@alligator.org. Follow her on X @isabelgkraby. 

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Isabel Kraby

Isabel is the The Alligator's Spring 2026 music reporter. She is a junior studying journalism at UF and is from Ormond Beach, FL. In her spare time, she loves going to concerts, crafting and practicing guitar. 


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