Forget everything you know about the ukulele — there, that was easy — and go do a quick Google search. The first video that pops up won’t be some grainy clip of Tiny Tim or George Formby but a performance by a hair-gelled 34-year-old Hawaiian named Jake Shimabukuro. In 2006, the ukulele virtuoso’s jaw-dropping rendition of the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” hit YouTube and went viral, pulling in more than 7 million viewers. Since then, Shimabukuro has played with Jimmy Buffett, performed for Queen Elizabeth II and scored a cameo in the new Adam Sandler film. His new album, Peace Love Ukulele, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s World Music chart. “The words professional and ukulele player are kind of an oxymoron,” Shimabukuro admits. “I pinch myself every morning, like, Wow, this is pretty amazing.” More amazing still: the ukulele is catching on. It’s there, plinking away on Train’s inescapable 2010 hit “Hey, Soul Sister.” It’s in the hands of Ryan Gosling, who uses it to woo Michelle Williams in the film Blue Valentine. And it’s especially widespread on the Internet, where clips by the likes of Shimabukuro and the late Hawaiian singer Israel “Bruddah Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole have been viewed tens of millions of times.
