On the beautiful island of Oahu in Hawaii, you will find many styles and genres among the various musical artists that reside here. Most of them definitely have their own style in this art form called music. You can find various talented musical performers with their own original sound as to vocals and performance. One such artist, utilizes an island traditional instrument---the ukulele. We know this artist and ukulele virtuoso by the name of Jake Shimabukuro.
His finger movements on the ukulele strings are phenomenal. Just like a skilled musician shredding on the electric guitar, Jake Shimabukuro does just the same on his ukulele. His expertise with the instrument can clearly be seen as he strums gracefully then sometimes explodes into a more vigorous jam. He is a true master at his skill and style. In his past works, he has played George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and The Beatles’ “In My Life” to name a few. Recently, he has played War’s “Low Rider”, and yes, with the vocals.
Jake Shimabukuro’s art started when he was given an ukulele by his mother at the young age of four. His mother was already an ukulele player and singer and became his first teacher. He furthered his training by continuously practicing and studying many more years. After honing his skills on the ukulele, he became an ukulele virtuoso and composer. Furthermore, he became known for his fast and complex finger work on the ukulele. With his vast range of style, he performs with a combination of elements that include jazz, blues, funk, rock, bluegrass, classical, folk, and flamenco. Throughout his career, he would go on to accomplish many achievements and win various music awards.
His recent work “Travels”, starts with a flamenco style and smooths out to a softer tone. It then continues on in a more soft jazzy sound as the other instrumentals of the band come in to join. If you want some music that is soft, smooth, relaxing, and played with some Hawaiian style on the ukulele, give the world’s best ukulele player and virtuoso’s music a listen.
Here’s Jake Shimabukuro’s “Travels”:
