I asked a Japanese friend visiting Santa Fe recently if he had heard of Jake Shimabukuro. “Jake?” he asked, in an excited voice. “Yes, he’s very famous.”
“Shima..bukuro, right?” I asked, practicing my Japanese on Jake’s last name.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he answered. “Just Jake.”
Like other people in the mostly fast-paced documentary, “Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings”, it doesn’t matter if you remember or can pronounce his last name. Just “Jake”—and ukulele—are all you need to know.
“The instrument is what it is,” says Jake. “It has such a small range, and it only has four strings. I fell in love with the limitations of the instrument, because I never saw the limitations as something that would hold me back.”
And hold back he doesn’t. This film is a wonderful exploration of a young man who grew up with very little except his extreme amount of natural talent as a virtuoso ukulele musician. You probably don’t often see the words “virtuoso” and “ukulele” together, but Jake is a master of this traditional Hawaiian member of the guitar family.
“He makes people want to believe in him,” says Jake’s manager. “He has that kind of magic.”
The film begins with a jaw-dropping performance in front of a large, formal, adult crowd and moves seamlessly into Jake giving a completely informal lesson in a school gymnasium to a group of kids, just as entranced as the first crowd. This is Jake’s magic: he can make anyone listen.
We get background on Jake growing up, his youth bands, and his foray into a multitude of musical genres, from sweat-whipping electric uke rock , right into the most sublime, classical acoustic moment. Pure Jake, this ability to slip into any genre. But what is truly amazing, and what this inspired documentary by director Tadashi Nakamura shows, is that there is more than dexterity to Jake, more than skill or training, more even than talent. And that thing is soul.
Hard to capture on film, soul. How do you show it? A lot comes from the story of Jake’s persistance to be a better musician, some comes from the respect and love he has for the women in his life. But to really see this genuine, authentic musician’s true foundation of life, look into the faces of his fans—they will tell you everything.
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“Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings” will be screening on Saturday, December 8 at 12:45pm at CCA (Center for Contemporary Arts.)
More information and complete program and schedule, at https://santafefilmfestival.com/index. To purchase tickets, visit TicketsSantaFe.org.
