All Photos by Hayley Heesacker
Story by Annie Bohling
When it comes to masters of art forms, the best kinds are the humble ones.
Jake Shimabukuro is one of the most talented ukulele players worldwide. He is also blessed with a personality that is as charming and down to earth as he is talented.
Shimabukuro resides in Hawaii and started playing the ukulele (as he smoothly and natively announced it, sounding sort of like ‘yooukoolaylee’ rather than a harsh ‘yewck-‘ sound) when he was four years old, in part because his mother played and because it is an instrument native to Hawaii. Shimabukuro mostly played traditional Hawaiian songs throughout his childhood on the instrument.
“When I was 12 or 13 I went to my first rock show,” Shimabukuro said on stage. “And then that entirely changed the way I approached this instrument.”
Between almost every song of Shimabukuro’s hour and fourty-five minute long set at the Bourbon (with no opener, thank goodness), Shimabukuro would speak to the crowd and tell some sort of story or bit of information that related to the following song or his experience with the journey of playing the ukulele. Shimabukuro was entertaining and captivating in his musical performance but also in the entirely different dimension of interacting with the crowd as we has extremely personable and talkative. It was as if the audience member and Shimabukuro were speaking for the first time at an intimate dinner party.
After speaking to us about his changed perspective on the capabilities of playing the ukulele, he went into a song that officially blew the minds of every audience member in the room and proved to the extreme what he meant by his discovery. The whole night, his ukulele was hooked to an amp, naturally (or unnaturally if you want to be technical). But on this song, Shimabukuro showed the stretch of possibilities a lone man on stage (there were no other accompanying musicians or sound effects) with his ukulele can have with the technological help of pedals.
Shimabukuro played and then recorded what he played and did this about three times in a row causing a looped song that was one of the few songs to make the human body dance rather than quietly and deeply captivate the heart, ears and eyes as it of course still succeeded in doing, just like the rest. It’s not just the ideas, genres and usefulness that Shimabukuro makes of the ukulele that is impressive but the sheer talent, skill, innovative playfulness and sincerely passionate dedication and love to the music of the instrument that makes his performances and his music rich, beautiful and beyond worthwhile.
Most of the night, The Bourbon Theater was filled with the lone, powerfully resonating sounds Shimabukuro flawlessly produced keeping each person glued and endlessly attracted to him, waiting for more and never wanting to move or go to the bathroom or ever let the set end.
I need to attempt to emphasize Shimabukuro’s actual mastering of the ukulele. I suppose you have to see it to believe it (and hear it; feel it), but, basically, he is able to move his fingers very fast and stretch them surprisingly wide causing a sound that is faster and bigger than you would ever think possible from such a small, simple instrument. Anyone can appreciate his gift, but the average mind likely cannot keep up to mentally comprehend just what is happening musically between Shimabukuro and the ukulele. It’s also likely that even Shimabukuro’s mind cannot keep up with the pace of his physical playing. On many occasions, Shimabukuro would play all on the neck of the ukulele–he would use his left hand to jog around the frets as he always did and brought his right hand up tight to do the same thing AND strum near where he was plucking with that hand–somehow.
Shimabukuro delivered a strong, solid set that was *quite notably* surprisingly diverse. This was a strength on top of his insane domination of this instrument. Most everything he played was his own. But he has two apparent favorites (it seems by both him and his audiences) that are covers: “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Queen) and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (The Beatles; by George Harrison).
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was recorded on a YouTube video by Shimabukuro and ultimately led to his fame.
[youtube id=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k” width=”600″ height=”350″]
Things were extra serene when he played this song as everyone was silently hoping he would play it but would never ask him to as his entire show was already such a treat.
My heart was on the stage and my mind was in the sky.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” was the most fun song played. Everyone knows this song and enjoyed his interpretation of it. In general, covers of popular and epic songs can be risky as they can be too mocking or an ultimately failed attempt. But the job done on the ukulele made for an enjoyable and one-of-a-kind transformation of the song. Audience members had the original Queen song sifting in and out of their mind, playing along with Shimabukuro’s playing of it–but somehow this was not distracting nor disappointing in any way. Rather, it was simply interesting to see the stark differences and the uncanny sameness of the two renditions.
Lastly, Shimabukuro played his favorite Hawaiian traditional song. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was his “last” song but this Hawaiian number was his encore. The song was like a lullaby by more complex than something simple. It was beachy, serene, strong and soft. It was the perfect close to the show.
Shimabukuro was not only humble and charming but also very inviting and social. He invited everyone to say hello to him after the set. It seemed as if EVERYONE went to line up to say hello to him after the set. He patiently, sweetly, genuinely sat at a small, simple table on a stool and shook each person’s hand with a nice smile, signing ukuleles, newly purchased CD’s (only $15 on his website) and other memorabilia.
He signed my shiny, floral little hardbook notebook that, inside, I took notes of this very show about, with Annie – Aloha! Jake. He was incredibly sweet. I asked him to please return to Lincoln. It sounds like he will! Obviously, you should make it a point to see him.
Just like every live musical artist that is foreign to Lincoln, Jake Shimabukuro had great things to say about playing for the audience here at The Bourbon Theater. And all of the attendees, as obviously explained here, have the world to say about Shimabukuro as a humble master of his art.
