This is . Opening up sounds and harmonies and taking an unexpected direction, that is a key element to the complex music made by you go your true so Jake. He is taking a simple instrument in new and dynamic directions through his cover version of well-known songs at his own compositions. He performs tonight at the California Center for the arts. I got a chance to talk with him about his music. Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. Is a pleasure to be on. You were born in Hawaii. I have to ask you. Is it true that a lot of people play the ukulele -- ukulele in Hawaii. It is very true. That is how I got into a. My mom played. She started teaching me when I was four years old. Also, even in elementary school, we learn how to play in the fourth and fifth and sixth grade. It is a big part of the culture there. It truly is a wonderful instrument. When did you first know that you were good? I don't know. That is something that -- the thing is, for me anyways, since the day I started playing, I had my sights on something that I couldn't do or couldn't play. It was like I wanted to learn how to play this. To this day, there are so many things I wish I could do any instrument that I can't yet. It is just a matter of figuring out ways to do it. You never truly feel like you are good or your is just -- it is just a constant struggle, just obsessing over the things that you know you can't do yet. You hope to someday achieve. Did you grow up playing traditional Hawaiian songs? Like yes. Yes I played a lot of traditional music. [Music] I think it was probably when I was maybe an early teenager, is when I got into different styles of music. [Music] Did you ever think about switching to the Qatar for greater range? No. the Qatar always -- and never appealed to me. It was too difficult to play. That is one of the beauties are beautiful thing about the ukulele. It is not intimidating. It is very easy. Impact comedy never played an estimate before, you could easily learn to play a song and less than five minutes. Really? It is a good instrument for people if they always wanted to learn an instrument, ukulele is the want to start out with? Back it is a perfect instrument to start on because you can learn to picnic melody notes, but you can strum chords and you can have yourself as you saying. It truly is just a wonderful wonderful instrument for someone who does not have, you know, the time to commit, to go into music lessons or spending hours and hours a day trying to learn an instrument. You take it out of the case and you play. There is that. Taking about the case and play a few chords, and there is what you do. That is very different from that. You have a favorite song on your new album? My last two releases, my last release was an album called travels. I think my favorite song on that one is probably the title track. I got a little experimental there with free jazz, a free jazz approach. [Music] I also just released a new record. It is called life of Japan. That one, for me, I love about that album issue can just feel the audience and excitement of the Japanese audience. They are clapping along any energy is wonderful. I love that because when I listen to accommodate takes me back to Japan and I feel like I'm right there in the concert. Maybe we will feel some of that energy tonight as you perform at the California Center for the arts. I've been speaking those speaking with Jake. Thank you so much. All right. The care. [Music] What is it going to take to get you out and about on what may be a pretty rainy weekend? Anyone has good tips, it is sure to be [ Name indiscernable ] of the KPBS . Mina welcome. UC San Diego spring? Returns this weekend. Can you remind us what this festival is quite It is an annual festival by the San Diego graduate music students. They play experimental music. It happens next week on campus with confidence, film screenings, collaborations, and does It is next we? Back they have a kickoff event accented. Tell us about this. It is called immersion. It is a night of experimental music inspired by the ocean. You will hear cool things. There are some students that recorded the sound of fish and turned it into electronic. There is an improv jazzman -- a hand and they are inspired by the movement of shark. There will be performances of well-known experimental music like this piece by [ Name indiscernable ]. [Music] Is there something for people who are working on sperm in a music? Back there is. There is chamber music. There will be workshop for kids on how to build instruments, there will be art installations and poetry readings. Is all art inspired by the ocean and the aquarium. What time? Back it starts around 6:00 in the evening on Sunday -- Saturday night. The next event is outside but worth finding an umbrella form. Is the art crawl. Tell us about that? Back that happens the second Saturday of each month. You are interested in the REO art being, it is hard to just show up whenever and find an open gallery. The second Saturday of every month they are open. The Saturday is the day. What is the focus? Back I'm making a joke and did not realize that. Bifocal is the focus? Back there is. There's a show hoping at Gallery D called bifocal bridging perspectives. They are trying -- the neighborhood is going through changes. They want to figure out how to bring the old and the new together. That is the goal of the show. There will be art for new artist to lived and worked there as well as stuff from some of the popular your list that created this. That happens on Saturday? The bifocal, bridging perspectives it Gallery D? Back yes. We have a new wrinkle in San Diego's are seeing. Can use say what that is? Back there is a great storing group -- storytelling group. They put on events and encourage people to tell stories. They go to people who do not usually hear from, like veterans. There are the homeless people, they have done things with the blind people. It is also -- it is whoever has a story to tell. They are stealing story about art in this exhibit. Yes. This is coal. Writers from so say we all were given a piece of art by local artist. They were asked to write a short story inspired by the peace. The art will be displayed together. Where is that happening? Back that is happening at the gallery in La Jolla. It is an open reception? Yes. We have a lot of things to do. Yes. I have been thinking -- speaking with Nina . You can check out the art calendar at four. Thank you. You are listening to KPBS Midday Eddition .
A Hawaiian ukulele player may sound like a cliché, but for a Hawaii native like musician Jake Shimabukuro, playing the instrument isn’t just a stereotype.
“My mom played and she started teaching me when I was about 4 years old,” Shimabukuro told KPBS Midday Edition on Thursday. “Even in elementary school, we all learn how to play it in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades. So it's a big part of the culture (in Hawaii), and it truly is a wonderful instrument.”
Shimabukuro grew up playing traditional Hawaiian music and eventually made a name for himself as a ukelele virtuoso.
"Even until this day, there's so many things that I wish I could do on the instrument that I can't yet, and it's just a matter of figuring out ways to do it," Shimabukuro said. "You never truly feel like you're good."
Still, people who want to learn shouldn’t be intimidated, he said.
“If you've never played an instrument before, you could easily learn to play a song in less than five minutes,” he said. “It's the perfect instrument to start out on because you can learn to pick melody notes.”
Shimabukuro is performing at the California Center for the Arts Escondido on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
