Jake Shimabukuro in Durham

Jake Shimabukuro is an American ukulele player and composer, born in Honolulu in 1976. He plays instrumental music informed by Hawaiian traditions, jazz and rock, and became widely known through his ukulele arrangement of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” His albums include Gently Weeps, Peace Love Ukulele and the Alan Parsons-produced Grand Ukulele. A video of Shimabukuro performing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in Central Park circulated widely online in 2006 and introduced his concert playing to a broad audience. He performed “Bohemian Rhapsody” at TED2010 in Long Beach, while the 2015 concert album Live in Japan documented his stage repertoire in Japan.