Ukuleles conjure up some distinct images in my mind, mainly the opening credits of Arrested Development, that creepy Tiny Tim, and the cover of "Over the Rainbow" that appeared in every commercial, movie, and hour-long TV drama at some point in the early 2000s.
But I was catching up on some episodes of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and one of last week's musical guests completely upended my view of this four-stringed instrument. Jake Shimabukuro, a 31-year-old native of Hawaii and fifth-generation Japanese American, performed a soulful, melodic cover of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on an amped-up ukulele with guitar effect pedals.
The innovative Shimabukuro is dubbed as "The Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele," blending the sounds of a Hawaiian instrument with American jazz, rock, pop, soul, and even traditional Japanese music on his most recent album Gently Weeps.
After his performance, Conan said, "We've been doing this show a long time, ladies and gentlemen. That's one of my favorite things I've ever seen."
Check out Shimabukuro's official website and watch the YouTube video to see him channel his inner George Harrison.
Posted by sylvie at February 27, 2008 8:46 AM
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I remember meeting Jake in Hawai'i, where I'm from. He played a free concert for my community college, which he also attended. He gave us a free performance, and even dedicated a song to our voice instructor. The youtube video doesn't really do it justice, because you can't see his whole body. He moves and flows with his music, even tapping his feet. It's kinda cool to really see his passion shine through his performances, I'd recommend people seeing him live.
Oh, btw, here's a much better video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZqaYmQZgrB4