ʻUkulele virtuoso Taimane Gardner released her latest single, "Serpentwined," at the outset of the Lunar New Year.
Her song, released in the Year of the Snake, tells a tale of two reptilian goddesses from opposite sides.
Taimane's love for mythology drew her to two mythical figures: the half-woman and half-snake Turkish goddess Shahmaran and the Hawaiian lizard goddess Kalamainuʻu.
"I tried to capture them in different ways," she said.
Both goddesses fall in love with men who end up betraying them. Depending on who tells the story, Shahmaran ends up dead, while Kalamainuʻu traps her lover.
"It plays between a woman's different facets of being a goddess but also having this darkness within her that is also important that we have to honor," she said.
The song was inspired by her time as the artist-in-residence at the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design on Oʻahu's south shore near Diamond Head.
Taimane plays both goddesses in the music video. One setting is on the outskirts of the museum facing the ocean. She's adorned in floral attire with a long pareo to represent a lizard's tail.
In another setting, she's dressed in Middle Eastern attire within Shangri La. Taimane said Shahmaran is more cavelike.
"I was inspired by all the beautiful art there," she said. "So she was more inside of Shangri La to separate the two goddesses in that way, as well as the costuming and what I wore."
The music video is now on YouTube.
