A pioneer of art and a style all her own, Taimane Gardner plays the ukulele like you have never seen or heard before. Combining classical music, such as Mozart, Beethoven with Led Zeppelin and 007 then adding a flamenco twist, Taimane’s unique style and breath skills dazzle audiences. Seeking to break away from the traditional Hawaiian music, Taimane has set off on a quest to show the world that, although small, the ukulele can be used for more then just playing hula songs, and that a girl with an ukulele and a deep passion for music is a force to be reckoned with.

In her recent Hawaii Theatre Debut “A Musical and Theatrical Odyssey – The Elements,” Taimane featured songs and performances that she has done throughout her career and brought them together in a showcase of her musical journey to the present day. The biggest influence for the show came from her most recent, and first ever self-produced album, “We Are Made of Stars,” which was released in March last year along with a planetary performance on The Great Lawn at Bishop Museum. “The Elements” is the sequel to her exploration of the universe as she brings together: art, dance, science, astronomy, astrology, chemistry, poetry and music to explore the six basic elements that make up our world.

One of Taimane’s signature skills is her ability to continuously wow and surprise her audience. As the young 27-year-old artist takes on her most elaborate performance yet at Hawaii’s grandest and most historical theatre, Taimane has brought together a crew of amazing performers to help her out. (Hawaii Theatre). Along with her own band and mainland musical guests, Taimane gathered together honolulu’s very own aerial dance troupe Samadhi Hawaii, the slam poet Kealoha, the duet Paradise Tango, the lovely fire and hoop dancers from Kalalea, Hawaii Contemporary Dancers and lion dancers from the Shaolin Arts Society. (Hawaii Theatre). The show started out with Taimane’s signature melody-mashups, which can be found on her album “Ukulele Dance,” such as: Toccata, Bodysurfing, Led Zeppelin meets Beethoven, Phantom of the Opera, Carmen and some originals such as Neptune’s Storm and Moon. Then moved on to her more recent originals from the “We Are Made of Stars” album, such as: Mother Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Battle. From one song to the next, Taimane led her audience through her musical journey with stories and laughter, weaving together her 21 years of performances in a way take showcased her growth as an artist. You could hear a shift in genres from the first half of her career up to her most recent originals. Her taste in music changed as she began to find her own voice and style through her song writing over the past few years. It is always fun to hear familiar classics played in new and unique ways, but the real treat of the night happened during her original pieces such as Venus, Neptune’s Storm, Mother Earth and Moon. These songs were much more elaborate and you could tell that she put much more thought into the visual performance here.

For Mother Earth, my old dance teacher Jamie K. Nakama performed a beautiful Modern Dance solo, and was later joined on stage by Andrea Torres and local youth as they danced and moved audience members nearly to tears to save the earth from destruction. Venus featured Taimane in a lovely white gown and golden head wreath and three dancers from Hawaii Contemporary Dancers, who were beautiful slow moving mer-people fighting over the one the ultimate giant clam shell. With their graceful controlled movements and the blue slow falling confetti, the Hawaii Contemporary Dancers gave the audience the effect of being under water in a dark mysterious new world. One of my personal favorites and by fare the most beautiful performance of the night was Moon accompanied by aerial hoop dancer and director of Samadhi Hawaii, Andrea Torres. Andrea Torres is my aerial teacher and mentor, but the performance I saw her do at Hawaii Theater was probably the best performance I’ve ever seen her do. The lighting and visual set up was amazing and added to the awe effect of a dancer suspended in space slowly spinning in the middle of two giant rings as Taimane and her band sang with voices of angels. The best part of that performance was watching Taimane’s music inspire the aerial dance in the air and Andrea’s performance inspiring Taimane and her band on the ground. The connection between musicians, dancer and the audience was so strong in that piece and it left everyone speechless. And weaving together the dancing, music and bringing the science into the show was the acting narrator and slam poet, Kealoha, who tied together the element concepts between each song. Bringing the power of words to help deliver the essence and genius of each piece.

            Taimane started out her journey as an ukulele at the age of five and got her first job at the age of thirteen when she was picked up by Don Ho playing on the streets of Waikiki, and was to perform in his show at the Beachcomber. (Burke). According to Taimane’s old school mate Sarah Burke, in an article from Extinct Magazine, “Taimane’s big break came when one of her teachers, Bruce Shimabukuro, set her up to audition for a five girl uke band. The producers loved Taimane and made her the leader. The five girls had a short career together, playing gigs around the islands. When it came time to record an album, the producers only wanted Taimane. So, at 15, Taimane recorded her first album and flew to Japan to promote it. Taimane loved Japan, and the Japanese couldn’t get enough of her. Since then, she has traveled to Japan every summer to tour. Taimane can be seen playing at Jimmy Buffet’s on Saturday’s, The Royal Hawaiian on Mondays, and Ong King on every first Friday of the month, and most Sunday nights.” This summer she will be going on tour across Japan and Europe promoting her music and spreading the aloha spirit.

Refrences:

Burke, Sarah. “Taimane Gardner, Expect the Unexpected.” From Extinct Magazine:

Defining the Art of Writing by Writing About Art, 2009. Web. 2016.

https://extinctmag.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/taimane-gardner-expect-the-unexpected/

Hawaii Theatre Center. “Taimane’s Hawaii Theatre Debut: A Musical and Theatrical

Odyssey – The Elements.” Diamond Entertainment, 2016. Web. 2016.

http://www.hawaiitheatre.com/events/taimane-a-musical-and-theatrical-odyssey-the-elements/