SATURDAY

>> KCCN-FM’s Birthday Bash returns after 5-year hiatus

Springtime is the time for outdoor concerts, and Honolulu radio station KCCN–FM 100 is getting things going Saturday by bringing its Birthday Bash back to the Waikiki Shell.

Fans of island music will be in for a treat at this concert, the first in five years for the radio station. Headlining the evening will be Hawaii’s the Green, possibly the islands’ most commercially successful reggae band. The group swept the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards in 2014, taking home awards for group of the year, reggae album of the year and favorite entertainer of the year, but it’s not just local people who like their music. Each of their three albums (“The Green,” 2010; “Ways and Means,” 2011; and “Hawai‘i ’13,” 2013) has received “best of” awards or No. 1 rankings from Billboard, iTunes and Allmusic.com.

The concert also features a reunion performance for local favorites Ten Feet. The band had a pretty successful run back in the 2000s, winning several Hawaiian Music Awards and a Hoku, and reaching the top 30 on three different Billboard charts for its 2000 album, “Island Feeling.” The group has performed sporadically over the last few years.

Kapena, Peni Dean, Kimie Miner, Bruddah Waltah, Mahkess and the Vitals also join in the fun.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY

>> Swedish composer teams up with Mahi

We all know Hawaii is an inspirational place. The Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra will demonstrate that with “Kumulipo Reflections,” a new work by Swedish composer Anders Paulsson which features cultural practitioner Aaron Mahi, pictured inset.

Symphony artistic adviser JoAnn Falletta, at right, who will conduct the orchestra, said Paulsson wrote the piece after visiting the islands. “He was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the environment, the fragility of the environment, that he approached us about writing a piece about it,” she said, with the specific purpose of raising awareness about the need to save coral reefs.

Paulsson consulted Mahi on Hawaiian traditions and created visuals to go along with the music, focusing on life in the sea. During the performance, Mahi, who has led the Royal Hawaiian Band, the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and other local musical organizations over the years, will recite “Kumulipo,” the traditional Hawaiian creation story.

Falletta said the work is unusual in that it features grouping and phrases organized in “figures of five,” whereas in most Western music, structures are most often in twos or fours, like marches, or threes, like waltzes or minuets. Paulsson’s purpose in doing that was to create the sensation of the endless motion of the sea, she said. “Grouping in five, it’s rootless almost — you get a feeling of floating,” she said. “It gives the feeling of moving constantly, and it’s truly beautiful. I’ve never had the chance to do something like this.”

The sea will be a major theme of the concert, which also features “The Little Mermaid,” a work by Alexander von Zemlinksy that reflects the original, tragic ending of the Hans Christian Anderson story.

Violinist Jinjoo Cho joins the orchestra in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, the most popular work of the genre. Cho is the 2014 gold medalist of the International Violin Contest of Indianapolis, which has sent the pleasing performers Augustin Hadelich and Tessa Lark here in recent years.

SATURDAY-APRIL 8

>> Mainland artists join the premiere of burlesque group Les Muses

Check out Hawaii’s newest aerial burlesque group, Les Muses, which gives its premiere performances over the next two weekends; if the performances prove popular, they might repeat in Waikiki.

Founder and artistic director Mulan Rouge has performed with other local burlesque groups like the Cherry Blossom Cabaret, specializing in aerial performance after studying with Samadhi Hawaii for six years. She is bringing a number of mainland aerial artists for the performances. “For this show we are bringing the cream of burlesque,” said Mulan Rouge, a native of Hong Kong who moved to Honolulu eight years ago. “Midnite Martini, from Chicago — actually, she is one of the most influential burlesque artists in the 21st century.”

Other guest performers include Nikki Knockout from Texas and Lucky Bucky from Chicago. Mulan Rouge’s troupe is contributing seven performers drawn from local talent, with music by ukulele virtuoso Taimane Gardner.

While traditional aerial apparatuses like silks and trapeze will be used, Mulan Rouge herself will perform on an aerial sphere made for her out of some curved clothing racks that she had welded together. “It’s the only one in … Hawaii,” she said. “I’m just trying to create my own moves on it.”

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY

>> Shimabukuro to play the Blue Note Hawaii

If you missed the CD release party a few months ago, you can get a chance to hear uke star Jake Shimabukuro’s latest album, “Nashville Sessions,” live at the Blue Note next week.

The album consists of tunes that arose out of jam sessions that Shimabukuro had with bassist Nolan Verner and drummer Evan Hutchings in Nashville, Tenn., over six days in the famed music city, where Shimabukuro’s distribution team is based. The album debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart, the first time one of his albums appeared in the category, with critics comparing him to innovative artists like Jimi Hendrix and John Coltrane.

Look for expansive range from Shimabukuro. In the recording he uses distortion, reverb and other electronic techniques to change the uke’s sound. The songs range from “Tritone” and “Hemiola Blues,” which refer to musical terms, to more descriptive songs like “Motown” and “Kilauea,” which was inspired by Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption.”

Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra cellist Josh Nakazawa, who has put on some interesting programs around town recently, joins Shimabukuro.