Interviews with ukulele fusion artist Taimane & Danish singer Agnes Obel.
This Weekend on Echoes, it’s a new generation of Ukulele player when we talk with Taimane. She’s a Hawaiian musician who studied with Jake Shimabukuro and is creating her own ukulele fusion that takes the instrument out of the luau and into the world on albums like Elemental and We Are Made of Stars..
Taimane: I grew up living in Hawaii and that’s all that I would ever hear, it was Hawaiian music. And so I kind of grew numb to it, honestly. And that’s kind of why I started exploring other types of music..
Some weekend listerners will also hear from Danish singer Agnes Obel, who creates a haunting ambient chamber pop music. She’s been a big part of the show since her 2010 debut, Philharmonics, an Echoes CD of the Month, as was her last album, Citizen of Glass. She puts out a great album about every 3 years and her new one follows suit. It’s called Myopia, and it was Echoes March CD of the Month. It’s a look inside Obel’s head.
Agnes Obel:: I’ve tried to, to recreate different states of mind that I’ve experienced and my wish is that the listener is sort of stepping into that and experiencing that state of mind in my perspective.
On Myopia, she explores states of mind from insomnia to loss, all couched in her muted arrangements and whammy bar voice. John Diliberto talks with Agnes Obel on Echoes.