BY KAREN BOSSICK
Yikes. It just sold out but you can still be put on a wait list to see ukulele virtuosos Taimane.
Taimane Gardner, a rising star in the music world, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, at the Argyros Performing Arts Center in Ketchum. She also will perform for nearly 400 Blaine County school students on Monday.
Born and raised in Hawaii of hapa Samoan descent (and German, Irish, French and Swedish ancestry), Taimane’s name translates “Diamond” in Samoan. She began playing ukulele at 5 and was discovered by Don Ho when she was 13. She studied with Jake Shimabukuro as a teenager.
Taimane has played internationally in places like Japan and Hong Kong and she’s performed in the United States at The Kennedy Center.
She is renowned for her fingerwork on the ukulele and her prowess in painting vibrant images eliciting deep emotional responses with her music. Her album “We are Made of Stars” was nominated for Ukulele Album of the Year at the 2016 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards.
National Public Radio hailed her as one of the week’s standout artists after she appeared at the 2019 SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas.
She will be joined here by Jonathan Heraux on percussion and Ramiro Marziani on classical guitar. Polynesian dancer Norm Munoz will also perform.
Kristine Bretall, The Center’s director of performing arts, said she has been hearing about Taimane for a few years. She finally got to see her last January. Her playing was nothing short of breathtaking and Norm Munoz’s dancing was astonishing she said.
“This show is like nothing the valley has ever seen before,” she added.
Taimane’s performances are so physically demanding that she does not do long tours.
“And as a Hawaiian she tends not to tour during the winter so we are doubly lucky to have her here for a few days in January!” Bretall said.
Tickets range from $15 to $30 for students 18 and under. They’re $30 to $60 for adults. To get on the wait list call 208-726-9491.