Can’t believe I missed his concert… what was I thinking as I “weep” in disappointment.
Here’s Utube recording done at Central Park, NYC – It is said that Central Park has this certain energy that brings out the creative powers in all artists. Maybe Sawasrati casted a spell there in the water brooks…
In addition to practice, practice … he must have Shamisen, Koto player DNA in his genes?
A partial excerpt from Wikipedia profiles what a gentle soul of an artist he is:
Shimabukuro was for many years the key spokesperson and then also director of the Music Is Good Medicine non-profit organization. It used community outreach programs and performance visits to schools, senior centers, and hospitals to promote healing and encourage a healthy lifestyle and a connection to music.He has also done several performances in tsunami-devastated Sendai, Japan in order to bring peace and respite to the distraught and newly homeless residents’ lives.
Following the dissolution of the Music Is Good Medicine program, Shimabukuro founded his own non-profit organization, the Four Strings Foundation, in 2013. It creates music education workshops nationwide and provides ukuleles, materials, and training tools to schools and music teachers. It also hosts concerts and publishes music media, lobbies to increase music education, encourages schools to make music programs culturally relevant, conducts research in music education and children’s social/emotional learning, and provides funding for music education in schools nationwide.
Shimabukuro stated: “The Four Strings Foundation was created as a vehicle to give people opportunities to make a difference. My primary focus is to inspire kids through music to help them discover their passion in life. The message is simple – strive to be the best, live drug-free and have fun.”The mission statement of Four Strings is: “To create new opportunities for people of all ages to participate in the act of making music and to use those experiences as a vehicle to promote personal empowerment and fulfillment.”
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Music makes life more joyful. Ukelele is indeed the “underdog” of musical instruments – just 4 strings vs. guitar’s 6 and just … simple, unadorned, tiny and usually scoffed at as being not real musical instrument but just a “toy” requiring little skill and limited to Hawaiian Hula music. So here’s a bare toy of an instrument, looked down as a mere toy by the sophisticated folks- not taken seriously and being inferior to other “real authentic” instruments – under his hands, a transformation takes place. It transforms from its humble origin to something more, something that hits the chords of human heart and soul. In a way, it is more real, more authentic than a symphonic orchestra for the very reason because it’s not sophisticated – it’s raw.
