In the 26 years since the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain was formed, while remaining esoteric, it has conquered the musical world with its unique take on music from pop to punk to classics and classical.
It has sold out concerts throughout the world, including Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Poland, France, America, Canada, New Zealand and Japan and has an appeal that reaches all ages.
The UOGB is largely responsible for the rise in popularity of the humble instrument that’s resulted in the emergence of ukulele groups throughout the country, which is great news as it has to be the happiest sound made from an unpretentious wee instrument. Their music has been used in films, plays, and commercials and they have collaborated with groups from Madness to The Ministry of Sound and The Kaiser Chiefs, as well as Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens).
I first heard them a few years ago, and went on to then enjoy their Proms’ performance in 2009 on the radio when I became hooked. This is the second time I have heard them live and they did not disappoint. Although they appear to be thoroughly democratic, George Hinchliffe who hails from the affectionately named “Peoples Republic of Yorkshire” and looks like a 1950’s newsreader, seems to be the lead man.
The six male members of the seated ensemble are also dressed in dinner suits and the two women show equal sartorial elegance in their black outfits, but this air of convention is but a veil for their anarchistic panache as they perform a kind of instrumental hand jive with barely restrained wildness.
They go through their wide ranging repertoire of virtuoso plucking to turn preconceptions on their heads as their tantalising strings takes the audience from Dixieland’s Hold That Tiger, a tumbleweed whistled spaghetti Western theme, Rock Around the Clock with its Laurie Anderson-like backing and the fabulous Teenage Dirtbag.
The Ukulele Orchestra's playing of the Saint-Saëns piece, Danse Macabre, has the players buzzing together like marching bees and their Pinball Wizard acapela is nothing short of joyful. All of these are introduced with miss-them-if you-blink puns and mildly irreverent local jokes that are cherries on an already rich and gorgeous cake.
They very cleverly have put together pieces where several apparently very different songs can be sung together very easily, which is evidence of their tremendous musicality and the singularly subtle sophisticated subversion that marks them out as special. The entire show was, as ever, what I call joy in a jar and the audience who made enough noise to sound like a herd of buffalo for an encore seemed to agree. And who couldn’t love them for accepting the challenge of playing a ukulele the size of a sharpener during the show?
Just before the show started, I overheard a young audience member ask, “What would life be like if the ukulele was the only instrument in the world?” When I asked what he thought the answer was, I was told, “Happier!” Hooray for the Ukes!
Scottish tour ends 1st May