What do you get when a mermaid reincarnates as a rockstar? Probably Taimane, a Hawaii-born, half Samoan ukulele virtuoso, singer, and songwriter. Her grace and elegance, combined with her technical prowess and engaging personality, make all of her live performances a delightful experience. In September, she performed in Portland for the first time and gave a fantastic show at the historic Alberta Rose Theater.
Since her performance in November 2022, Taimane has brought on a whole new set of musicians in her touring ensemble. This crew consists of Jacob Staron on cello, Nia Imani on percussion, and Tehila on guitar. There may not have been the telepathic familiarity of a long-running ensemble, but the musicians played off of each other’s energy and came together to create a cohesive performance. Each musician got a chance to shine in “Fire,” a piece that, despite being a setlist staple, can be very different in every performance because the musicians get to do some solo improvisation live.
Taimane holds a spell over her audience–someone in the crowd aptly described her as “mesmerizing.” This is partly due to her stage presence and intense gaze into the crowd, but also because she revels in employing contrasts in dynamics, timbre, and character which keep listeners on their toes. One moment she’s a hardcore rocker, shredding through fast-paced arpeggiated passages, the next moment she’s an island siren, bathing the hall with her airy vocals. The setlist included rock and metal-inspired numbers like the Led Zeppellin and Beethoven mashups, songs with island getaway vibes like the “Wipeout” surf medley and “Bora Bora,” as well as slow, moody songs like her cover of Chris Isak’s “Wicked Game”.
She sang with a light tone, which lends an ethereal, almost haunting quality to the passages with voice. During these passages, the voice often served as an atmospheric effect or an echo to a preceding instrumental passage rather than the melodic focal point.
Taimane brings a Hawaiian hospitality to the show and is a natural at engaging the audience and drawing out their excitement. Her impassioned performance of “Carmen” drew an audible “ole!” from the crowd. The piece started off with a quote from the fugue from Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in d Minor,” but quickly segued into the haughty habanera. At the end of the piece, there was a percussive chuck strumming section that transformed the weighty habanera rhythm into something more spirited and syncopated. In “Vesper,” a song named not only after a drink but also James Bond’s truest lover, she encouraged the audience to chant along with a repeating, rising line in the chorus: “Gimme that gin, gimme that gin, gimme that gin.” The repeated six-note half-scale motif with a leading tone gave the song an exotic and mysterious air. Towards the end of the show, she asked the crowd for song requests and happily obliged when someone shouted “Tico Tico.” She admitted to not having performed it in a while, but she pulled it off flawlessly, her thumb picking out a melody at a speed that would probably cause anyone else severe finger cramps.
To close out the set, Taimane and the ensemble performed “Neptune’s Storm,” which depicts a swirling, watery storm on the sapphiric planet. A cylindrical percussion instrument with a spring at the end created a stormy thunder effect. It was less of a destructive hurricane and more like a cleansing rainstorm that leaves the landscape shimmering with beads of water. After this extraterrestrial escapade, Taimane returned onstage and swapped out her ukulele for a guitar to perform a solo encore “Maluhia.” It was a lyrical, subdued song from her latest album, Hawaiki, and the title comes from the Hawaiian word for “peace.” “Maluhia” was a beautiful, meditative ending to an evening of sonic adventures to distant lands, novel interpretations of familiar themes, and an homage to Taimane’s Polynesian heritage.
Click on the photo below to view our photos from the show:
