Editor's note: Jake Shimabukuro headlines the Ukes for Kids benefit concert at the Hawai'i Convention Center on Saturday night. Here's a look at his latest CD.

CD: "Dragon" by Jake Shimabukuro; Hitchhike Records

Release: October 2005

Style: Hawaiian/rock

My take: Jake Shimabukuro became a local celebrity seemingly out of nowhere. One day, he was a blurb in radio-station banter and on the bottoms of newspaper pages. The next, he was the next big thing, playing 'ukulele at lightning-fast speed and using it to produce sounds as innovative as his strumming. Shimabukuro's style has gained him celebrity beyond the Islands as well. He is incredibly popular in Japan and the Mainland, but he never uses the native sounds as a crutch to make up for lack of musicianship, because talent oozes out of his hands.

With "Dragon," his fifth album, Shimabukuro gets braver with his songs and incorporates more genres. The first track, "Shake it Up!" is energetic and fun, which is a great way to invite the listener in for more. But the album isn't a bunch of subsequent songs sounding like more of the same. The aptly named "Circle of Friends" is much more relaxed, the kind of song you listen to while driving, or riding the bus home. Of all the songs here, "Friends" has the biggest Island-sound influence. Another song in which Shimabukuro stays close to his roots is "Me & Shirley T.," somewhat reminiscent of an instrumental of the Ka'au Crater Boys' "All I Have to Offer You is Me."

Shimabukuro isn't dependent on Hawai'i influences for much longer, though. On "3rd Stream," he toys with percussive jazz, making it sound exotic and bubbly. Those two adjectives aren't normally used to describe the same piece of music, but it fits here. "Floaters," which I'm hoping is about flowers, is a more romantic track, the kind you could imagine hearing during a dinner at a posh restaurant.

Shimabukuro isn't afraid to tread into sadder territory. With the songs "Touch" and "Making a Perfect Yesterday," the album gets its almost called-for balladeer material.

In an effort to show his chops, Shimabukuro does a song titled "En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor," based on the second movement of Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez." The track borders on flamenco music and has the best percussion support on the album by far. This might possibly be Shimabukuro's bravest effort to date and shows he's got the talent to hold his own while mixing genres.

With talent like his, it's no wonder Jake Shimabukuro is popular not only in Hawai'i, but nationwide and worldwide. His recent appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" showed a national, mainstream audience what kind of musicianship lies within our shores. While the music of Hawai'i may be too regionally focused to be as widely accepted as rap and rock, it's artists like Jake Shimabukuro who exemplify why that would be truly shameful.

Jeremy Castillo is a student at Windward Community College and editor of the college's newspaper, Ka 'Ohana.