Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 1, 1 January 2013 — ʻUkulele on the street [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ʻUkulele on the street

The new CD Taimane 'Ukuīeīe Dance, from Mountain Apple Co., showcases an artist who really doesn't overstate when she says, "When

you hear my CD, you're going to hear the 'ukulele like you've never heard it before." īaimane picked up an 'ukulele at age 5 and really never put it down. This isn't Jake's music, though he was one of her teachers. It isn't

the classic sound of Benny Chong, though she played with him in Don Ho's show. She was "discovered" by Unele Don when she was a small kidplaying on the street in Waikīkl. She quickly explains that she wasn't out there alone. Her dad was always nearby. But it was her idea to take the music to the street, performing with a group of homeless musicians. Of the small-kid days on street she says: "I let those musicians divide up the money. It was fair, we all got

a share. They went off to the heaeh to sleep and I went home with my dad." She says she was too young to really grasp that the heaeh was where the boys lived. From those early experiences she has a personal

commitment to give time and her talent when she ean to help those in need and inspire young people to use their own talents. For a time the family returned to her mother's home,

Samoa, adding another rich layer to Taimane's music. Weaving Bach and Led Zeppelin in the same medley, she eame home to Don Ho's Hōkū Showroom. Now she travels the world, performing Stairway to Heaven, Mission Impossibīe, and Phantom of the Opera, all with an island sound. Double scoops, the new CD has a DVD inside the front cover. mountainapple company.com. — Lynn Cook ■

j MELE 'AILANA ^ > ISLAND MUSIC SCENE }

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