Oʻahu-based ʻukulele virtuoso Taimane is embracing spooky season with her upcoming performance at Hawaiʻi Theatre Center. The show features music from her new album, “Liʻula,” along with Polynesian and contemporary dance and aerial performances.
The one-night-only show on Thursday, Oct. 22, will start with some of her greatest hits, combined with some fresh Halloween medleys “because we really want to enjoy spooky season,” she said. That will be followed by a 20-minute intermission, and then a release party for her newest album, “Liʻulā.”
“What that means is we're going to perform every song from the album, but we're really going to delve into the experience for people,” she said.
There will be fog machines, plus aerial acrobatics from the Kakaʻako-based dance school Samadhi Hawaiʻi. Kealoha, the first poet laureate of Hawaiʻi, will also share spoken word that brings the night’s moʻolelo to life.
One of the tracks on the new album is “Nightmarchers,” which fits the spooky theme of the evening.
“We're going to do another one called ʻWaimānalo Blues,’ which is a classic that most people know, but I've twisted it,” she said. “Throughout the second half of the song, we change it into a minor key, which makes it more of a spookier sound.”
Liʻulā is a word in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi that means twilight, dusk, mirage or hallucination. The album is currently in consideration for Grammy nominations in two categories: “Category Change: Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album” and “Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album.” Nominees will be announced on Nov. 16.
Taimane is known for using an ʻukulele to play everything from Johann Sebastian Bach to Led Zeppelin, as well as richly imaginative music she pens herself.
On Oct. 7, she released a music video for “Aloha ʻOe / Until We Meet Again,” which is inspired by “Aloha ʻOe” and is part of her album “Liʻulā.”
Her performances combine dance and ʻukulele to capture the audience’s attention.
“I actually started dancing ballet even before I had the ʻukulele — which was 5 years old,” Taimane said, adding that she also did Tahitian dance as a young girl.
Taimane grew up enjoying seeing theatrical productions, including in Las Vegas. Now, she is in the Iona Contemporary Dance Theatre.
“For me, yes, dance is definitely just an aspect of putting together a show,” she said.
But so is having a great crew, who makes the lighting and fog possible, the ʻukulele virtuoso added.
“It’s all of these different aspects that create an experience for a person, and so that's what I'm trying to share with people,” Taimane said. “Not just dance and the music but a storyline and really taking them to another place, like ʻLiʻulā,’ the album.”
Tickets start at $30 plus fees. Get tickets. Listen to Taimane’s music on Apple Music, Spotify and her website. Follow her on Instagram.
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
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