Join the celebrated Jake Shimabukuro, often hailed as “the Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele,” alongside the soulful Paula Fuga, "who will be celebrated for generations in Hawai`i and beyond" (Maui Times) and rhythmic Seven Suns for an unforgettable performance that transports you to the heart of the Hawaiian Islands. The IMUA Hawaii Festival at the Frost Amphitheater on July 19 brings together reggae, blues, and folk influences to forge rhythms and melodies that embody the spirit of Aloha.

Since gaining prominence in the early 2000’s, ukulele marvel Jake Shimabukuro has mesmerized audiences with his innovative and dynamic style, taking the instrument to dizzying new heights. Over a dozen solo albums, Shimabukuro has shown a knack for moving effortlessly between genres, sometimes in the same song. After being taught the instrument by his mother at age four, Jake became a local phenom, performing on his own and in a local group Pure Heart. Early in his solo career he became a YouTube sensation when his cover of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” went viral. Since then, Jake has gone on to play the world’s most venerable venues, from The Hollywood Bowl to Lincoln Center to the Sydney Opera House and The N.O. Jazz Fests and collaborated with some of the world’s greatest musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma, Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, Jimmy Buffett, Jack Johnson, Bette Midler, Ziggy Marley, Sonny Landreth, Billy Strings, Lukas & Willie Nelson and Warren Haynes. Shimabukuro has also won his share of awards and, just a few years ago he was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as a Member for the National Council on the Arts.

Over the past two decades, Jake Shimabukuro has proved that there isn’t a style of music that he can’t play. While versatility for any musician is impressive, what’s remarkable about Shimabukuro’s transcendent skills is how he explores his seemingly limitless vocabulary – whether it’s jazz, rock, blues, bluegrass, folk or even classical – on perhaps the unlikeliest of instruments: the ‘ukulele. Responding to the urgent calls of his fervent imagination, the Hawai’i-born virtuoso has taken the ‘ukulele to points previously thought impossible, and in the process he’s reinvented the applications for this tiny, heretofore underappreciated four-string instrument, causing many to call him “the Jimi Hendrix of the ‘ukulele.” “Sometime during Jake Shimabukuro’s stylistically diverse, 90-minute-set, my insightful, musically attuned friend, caught up in the emotion of the moment, exclaimed, “Not only is he an amazing musician, he’s a magician.” The words perfectly captured the ukulele master’s essence and the gentle yet powerful impact he made on his audience as he embarked on a thrilling range of genre-hopping adventures and transformed his instrument into a flamenco guitar, electric guitar and even the koto, a traditional Japanese instrument.” —Music Connection

Jake Shimabukuro's Holidays in Hawai'i