The ukelele. Like many, you might associate it with a pleasant Hawaiian tourist gift or a child’s guitar toy. But in the right hands…

Every so often you find something that impresses everyone with whom you share it. This is one such video.

Go ahead. Watch it. Just try and not feel excited and impressed.

This is Taimane Gardner. She’s from Hawaii and one of the best ukelele players around. I can’t remember how I discovered her, but I’ve been enjoying her music for about a year. I just picked up “Ukelele Dance,” one of her most recent albums, and it’s excellent.

I also just heard that she has a Kickstarter campaign running to raise money for her new album. More and more, artists are taking to Kickstarter to get support from their fan base and avoid any record companies. That’s an idea I’m happy to support for musicians I like, and so I did.

If you’re interested in helping out and getting a copy of the new work, I would highly recommend it. But either way, I hope you take a chance to check her out. It’s some great work.