An interview from SF Gate:

Jake Shimabukuro, ukulele virtuoso

David Rubien

In recent times, what with the economy tanking and the country depleted on a number of fronts, it hasn't always felt great to be an American.

One can't help feeling proud, though, when Jake Shimabukuro plays "The Star-Spangled-Banner" on the ukulele. Not only does his incredible interpretation elevate the anthem to something much more than we expect of it musically, but the fact that Shimabukuro is also a person of color - he's a Hawaiian-born American citizen of Japanese extraction - shows once again the endless capacity of this country to renew itself.

Anyone unfamiliar with Shimabukuro who finds his rendition of the national anthem on YouTube will be in for a shock. The tune rarely has packed such an emotional punch, and you won't believe sounds like that could possibly be made on a ukulele, a tiny four-string instrument generally associated with luaus and Tin Pan Alley shtick.

God bless YouTube, because after watching this performance, you'll no doubt be compelled to view other Shimabukuro videos, whereupon you'll realize that what he does on "The Star-Spangled Banner" only scratches the surface of his talents. Then, if you persist, you'll eventually find your way to his version of the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and by the end of that tune you, too, will be weeping. Seriously.

Shimabukuro, 32, is a bona fide phenomenon. His "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" take, filmed in New York's Central Park two years ago, has been viewed more than 3 million times. Many of the radical approaches he's introduced to the ukulele are evident in the performance - the mind-boggling strumming technique, the intonation that makes the ukulele sound like other instruments, advanced jazz chord substitutions, boundless melodic imagination.

Read the rest of the story here. And check out Jake’s web pages here.

But listen and watch for your selves, thanks to YouTube: