Classical IPR spent part of this afternoon with ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro ahead of his performance tonight at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Corson Auditorium.
When asked about the repertoire for this evening's concert, Jake Shimabukuro pointed to the importance of playing several different types of music.
“I've always loved a variety of styles of music and throughout the show I try to cover as much ground as I can. I always want to have something that might relate to someone in the audience,” he explained. “Not everybody will like every song that we play, but hopefully if there's just one song that we play tonight, they can walk away feeling, ‘Oh, I'm glad he played that song!’”
While in the studio, Jake Shimabukuro discussed some of his musical influences.
“You know [Andrés] Segovia was always another huge inspiration for me, and I remember watching a master class and him talking about timbre on his guitar and how he could strike the strings in a way that would mimic maybe the horn section or the string section. He looked at the guitar as if it were an orchestra,” he shared. “It really inspired me to think about getting as many different colors out of my instrument as possible.”
The artist's visit to Interlochen Public Radio included live performances of two songs as well as conversation about his instrument, collaborations and more.
Jake Shimabukuro performs tonight at Interlochen Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m.
Music featuring Jake Shimabukuro featured in this segment:
In My Life
Sakura Sakura
Piano-Forte
Kawika
Additional support for this interview came from Scott Clemens.
