Ukulele phenom tours world thanks to YouTube
Jake Shimabukuro on viral videos, Hendrix and love of the ukulele
It was an early lesson in the power of the viral video.
Up until 2006, ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro didn't have a touring career. He would play his native Hawaii and occasionally venture out to Japan, where music from Hawaii tended to be popular. But, for the most part, he was strictly a regional sensation.
Then, unbeknownst to him, a video of his fleet-fingered rendition of While My Guitar Gently Weeps was uploaded onto the then nascent YouTube. It became one of the video-sharing website's first viral sensations. Shimabukuro soon found himself in demand, with collaboration requests pouring in from such high-profile musicians as Ziggy Marley, Bela Fleck and even Yo-Yo Ma. Of course, initially, they didn't really know how to contact him.
“They didn't even know my name at the time,” says Shimabukuro with a laugh. “They'd say ‘Have you seen that Asian guy play the ukulele on YouTube?' It was just being at the right place and the right time.”
Since he became a YouTube sensation, Shimabukuro has had 10 years to push the boundaries of the four-string ukulele and build significant face and name recognition in the process. But he remains grateful for that early exposure on social media. Subsequent YouTube videos of him playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps — and there are plenty of them out there — usually begin with the musician introducing his version of the song as the one “seen on YouTube.” Shimabukuro now suspects the late George Harrison, who wrote the tune for the Beatles and was a passionate proponent of the ukulele, gave a ghostly nod of approval to the rendition.
“It was a magical thing,” he says. “I like to tell people that George Harrison had a hand in that. It was his tune and he loved the ukulele so much. He loved just spreading the joy of instrument so much. I always tell people that I think, up in heaven, George Harrison saw that and said 'Yeah, this is a great way to spread the ukulele to a whole new audience.' Through YouTube, through the ukulele and I guess through me somehow, he was able to really fulfil that vision of his.”
Over the years, Shimabukuro has earned a reputation for applying his ukulele skills to well-known songs, whether it be Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody or Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. But when he arrives at the Jack Singer Concert Hall on Thursday to perform with longtime bassist Nolan Verner it will on the heels of the release of the Nashville Sessions, his 13th solo record.
Unlike most of his past work, the Nashville Sessions featured all original material written in the studio. It also found him continuing to broaden the sonic possibili- ties of the instrument, exploring jazz, rock and progressive-rock sounds and experimenting with various amplification and recording techniques.
This adventurous spirit has led to Shimabukuro being dubbed the “Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele.” True to form, though, when that name is brought up Shimabukuro is quick to use it as an opportunity to further talk up his favourite instrument.
“One of the cool things about Jimi Hendrix was that his first instrument was the ukulele,” he says. “Before he got the guitar, the story goes that his dad got him a ukulele and he would play it and pick it up and he'd show a lot of interest in it. That's why he got the guitar later. I think he was six or seven years old he got a ukulele. That's why I love that connection.” While Shimabukuro will draw from the Nashville Sessions for his Calgary show, he will also play the covers that he has become known for, including Bohemian Rhapsody and While My Guitar Gently Weeps. He throws in other surprises as well — a snippet of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, for instance, or a Beatles medley.
He plans to return to Nashville for more recording sessions and has expanded his ukulele empire into publishing. His first instructional book, Jake Shimabukuro Teaches Ukulele Lessons, is now available. It was inspired by his desire to teach his sons, aged four and one and a half, how to play the instrument. Shimabukuro was four when he first picked up the ukulele in his native Hawaii. He wanted his sons to get an earlier start.
“I put it in their hands the day they were born,” he says.
I like to tell people that George Harrison had a hand in that. It was his tune and he loved the ukulele so much.