Four Strings and the Truth

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MUSIC NOTES Al Tizon

Four Strings and the Truth

consider cute at best and more appropriate for a back-to-school luau than a rock-and-roll stage. And not only rock, but folk, classical, disco, country, bluegrass, and funk—in the hands of Shimabukuro, the ukulele can do it all. Four strings and the truth On a cold, drizzly night at the Baby are apparently all this guy needs (with Grand Theatre in Wilmington, Del., the apologies to Hendrix and U2). “Of course people think I’m good,” star of the evening walks up to the mike as casually as he’s dressed and says play- he says humbly at one point in the fully, slowly,“Aaaaaloha,Wilmington”— evening. “When they come to listen to and then proceeds to treat the audience an ukulele player, expectations are so to an unforgettable night of hypnotic low I can only go up.” Shimabukuro’s latest offering, Live, charm, down-to-earth humor, and some captures the laughs, the background to badass ukulele. That’s right, an ukulele (it’s not a certain songs, and of course, the unique typo; we do need to say an ukulele since skills of arguably the greatest ukulele it’s properly pronounced oo-koo-LAY-lay) player on the planet. His extraordinary —a two-octave, four-stringed instrument covers of Bach’s “Two-Part Invention that makes one think of hula dancing, No. 4 in D Minor” and Michael Jackson’s grass skirts, and big-boned men playing “Thriller” demonstrate the range of his disproportionately small instruments on musical interpretations, while his own a tropical island rather than a crowd of compositions —“Let’s Dance,” “Five wild-eyed fans in a swank, East Coast Dollars Unleaded,” and “Me & Shirley music hall, whooping and hollering at T” are some of my favorites—display a playfulness that reflects a musician truly the end of each mesmerizing song. There’s a reason that Hawaiian-born enjoying his craft. Live albums are a virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro (pronounced funny thing, though—they often pale in she-ma-BOO-koo-row) is called “the comparison to the actual live show, but Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele.” This guy they’re worth having in your CD colwails on his instrument with the passion, lection. Live is no exception; it should intensity, and bad intentions that would be in your stack, but not without his make Hendrix proud, a talent made all 2006 studio release, Gently Weeps the more remarkable for being per- (Hitchhike Records), and not without formed on something rock snobs would seeing him in person the next time he blows through your town. I remember the first time I gave Gently Weeps a listen. It was my day off, and I had a stack of borrowed CDs, which included this one, to keep me entertained. I glanced at the unassuming cover and saw a name I had a hard time pronouncing. World music category, I thought. Strike 1. And the title suggests he’s going to try to cover a classic Beatles song. Good luck with that. Strike 2. For some reason I threw it on anyway and went about my business. As the first track got going, I realized I was PRISM 2009

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listening to an ukulele. Strike…“Hmm,” I thought, “George Harrison would be pleased with how clear an interpretation this is.” I listened more intently. “This is pretty good.”Then, clarity gave way to magic as the melancholy song transformed into desperate intensity.The sounds coming out of that lone ukulele could only come by way of lightningspeed hands, the left maintaining the melody (and therefore the integrity) of the song, and the right mercilessly pummeling the strings. It became Shimabukuro’s song, going beyond Harrison like a runner with a second wind surpassing the rest. The ferocity lasted for a breathtaking minute or so, but then as the song crescendoed toward the finish line, he slowed it down, as if out of respect for the originator. Yes, this was George Harrison’s song, but Shimabukuro covered it like no one else I’d ever heard. Harrison’s widow, Olivia, confirmed the power of Shimabukuro’s rendition by telling him backstage, after a performance in Honolulu, that she felt George’s presence as he played the song. It was his cover of “Gently Weeps” that catapulted him to stardom, after his 2006 performance of the song in Central Park was circulated via YouTube. The sheer number of hits (1.5 million to date) from all over the world changed his life, he said. Playing the ukulele for him went from personal obsession and local


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Four Strings and the Truth by Evangelicals for Social Action - Prism Magazine - Issuu