I discovered a fabulous virtuoso ukulele player: Taimane Gardner. She does amazing genre mash-ups–her style is almost classical, but she takes that way beyond expectations.
I first discovered her on one of my favorite YouTube channels, Hi Sessions. Here's the first piece I ever saw her perform, “Fire:”
Everyone, this channel is TO DIE FOR. The backdrop is spectacular and the music is superb. It's a wonderful way to showcase local Hawaii talent. I can't believe I grew up with this as “normal,” now that I've spent many years living on the mainland. The contrast is stark–in Hawaii this kind of musical activity is available everywhere, whereas here on the mainland I feel I have to be a little bit of a groupie or hobbyist in order to live my life with a music-centric focus.
Anyway, back to Taimane Gardner. Her website is beautiful, featuring video right on the home page. While she is almost goddess-like in the way she tells her musical stories, one of my very favorite music videos show cases the local Hawaii lifestyle so well, it takes me back to my days as a kid, when the most important things in life involved the beach, sunscreen, and a picnic lunch. I was never a surfer, but dang it, maybe I should correct that!
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