By Greg Olwell In this video clip, Jake Shimabukuro demonstrates how to play a triple strum. It’s a fast, flashy strum, which he thoroughly and patiently breaks down into an easy-to-follow three-step motion. Jake originally filmed this lesson for…
By Greg Olwell We just can’t resist this outtake from the PBS series Craft in America, which shows ukulele hero Jake Shimaburkuro playing one of the most beautiful songs ever to come from Hawaii, “Hi’ilawe,” with Chris Kamaka and Chris Kamaka Jr.…
ABOVE: Fred Kamaka Sr. and the Kamaka 100-anniversary headstock. (Fred Kamaka photo by Christopher Phaneuf.) From the Summer 2016 Issue | BY AUDREY COLEMAN The Anaheim Hilton’s California Ballroom conveyed a glitz that at first seemed removed from the art and craft…
By Kenny Berkowitz They’re young, they’re phenomenally talented, and they’re dreaming of becoming the next Jake Shimabukuro. And why shouldn’t they? Meet the future stars of Hawaiian ukulele. Brittni Paiva Hometown: Hilo, Hawaii Covers: “Boogie Woogie Bossa Nova,” “Somewhere Over…
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By Audrey Coleman Photography courtesy of Hawaii Symphony Orchestra It’s not that nobody has ever thought of writing a concerto for the ukulele. In 1999, the Wallingford (Connecticut) Symphony Orchestra commissioned uke player-composer Jim Beloff to write Uke Can’t Be Serious:…
We’re counting the days, hours, and minutes until the world premiere of Byron Yasui‘s Concerto for ‘Ukulele and Orchestra, Campanella, to be performed by Jake Shimabukuro and the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra on June 6 and June 7. Watch in the above promo video as Shimabukuro and Yasui talk about the…
Uke master Jake Shimabukuro recently stopped by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Studio Q to provide the definitive pronunciation of “ukulele” and perform his original song “Ukulele Five-0.” Read more about Shimabukuro in our Winter 2014 issue, where he shares how his new Four Strings Foundation is…
Shimabukuro spreads the ukulele gospel through his new Four Strings Foundation By David Knowles In today’s ukulele universe there’s no star as bright as Jake Shimabukuro. The Hawaiian-born virtuoso is not only considered the Jimi Hendrix of the uke, he’s…
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If there hasn’t been a university study on the psychological and sociological benefits of playing the ukulele, now might be a good time—and Victoria Vox could be the Test Case.