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A production of the Center for Asian American Media and Pacific Islanders in Communications, JAKE SHIMABUKURO: LIFE ON FOUR STRINGS is a compelling portrait of an inspiring and inventive musician whose virtuoso skills on the ukulele have transformed all previous notions of the instrument’s potential.


Through intimate conversations with Shimabukuro (she-ma-BOO-koo-row), this film reveals the cultural and personal influences that have shaped the man and the musician. On the road from Los Angeles to New York to Japan, the film captures the solitary life on tour: the exhilaration of performance, the wonder of newfound fame, the loneliness of separation from home and family.


This film played at the 2013 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.


  • Year
    2013
  • Runtime
    56 minutes
  • Director
    Tadashi Nakamura
  • Producer
    Donald Young
  • Executive Producer
    Stephen Gong & Ruth Bolan
  • Editor
    Tadashi Nakamura