The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

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The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain at Fairport's Cropredy Convention, 2005
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain at Fairport's Cropredy Convention, 2005
General information
founding 1985
Website www.ukuleleorchestra.com
Current occupation
Bassukulele, singing, artificial piper
 Jonty Bankes
Ukulele, vocals
 Peter Brooke-Turner
Ukulele, vocals
 Hester Goodman
Ukulele, vocals
 Will Grove-White
Ukulele, vocals
 George Hinchliffe
Ukulele, vocals
 Leisa Rea
Ukulele, vocals
 Ben Rouse
Ukulele, vocals
 David Suich
Ukulele, vocals
 Ewan Wardrop
Ukulele, vocals
 Richie Williams
former members
Marian "Kitty" Lux (1985-2015)

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is a comedic music group that play ukuleles in different registers - including a bass ukulele (which is often confused with a guitar, however).

history

Originally founded in 1985 for a one-off performance, the orchestra has since played in different locations around the world, on different occasions, such as the Royal Festival Hall or the Glastonbury Festival .

The orchestra appeared on television worldwide. An appearance in TIPI at the Chancellery of the Bar Every Reason was recorded by ZDF in 2007 and broadcast on 3sat and the ZDFtheaterkanal . Members were hired to write and record the music for two episodes of The South Bank Show .

The orchestra has appeared on television programs such as Tomorrow's World, Blue Peter , The Slammer , Richard and Judy and This Morning, as well as other shows on British television. The orchestra performed in front of approximately 170,000 spectators at the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of VE Day in Hyde Park . The orchestra toured Japan, the United States, Canada and Europe. The albums include Precious Little , The Secret of Life , Top Notch and a recording of a concert from 2005 entitled Anarchy in the Ukulele , which was recorded at the Barbican Center in London.

Her cover version of Ms. Dynamite's Dy-Na-Mi-Tee , sung by Hester Goodman, reached number 81 in the UK singles charts in 2005 . The single also features a cover version of Aretha Franklin's (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman , sung by George Hinchliffe, and the ukulele version of the instrumental piece Wonderful Land .

Numerous television appearances followed in recent years, including in Jools Hollands Hootenanny . The Ukulele Orchestra regularly received positive reviews for its live shows.

The orchestra has already had several line-ups in the more than 30 years of its existence and is currently - as of 2019 - an octet of seven ukulele players and one bassist. The members wear evening attire when they appear, the men tuxedos , the women elegant evening dresses. A typical appearance of the Ukulele Orchestra consists of songs and instrumental pieces from different styles of music: As often be Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights in the style of a swinging jazz number, Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar from The Nutcracker and the theme song of the movie Shaft played. The orchestra also composes and plays its own pieces, but also arranges medleys, like the one in David Bowie's Life on Mars? mixed with My Way , For Once in My Life and Substitute . The group largely refrained from playing music by George Formby Jr. , Britain's most famous ukulele player, to play. Only the song Leaning on a Lamppost is part of her repertoire, but in a Russian style.

Founding member Marian “Kitty” Lux (1957–2017) had to leave the orchestra in 2015 for health reasons.

Discography

Studio albums

  • 1988: The Ukulele Variations , Disque Ethnique (LP); CBS / Sony Records (CD)
  • 1990: Hearts of Oak , CBS / Sony Records
  • 1994: A Fist Full of Ukuleles , Sony Records
  • 1998: Pluck , Tachyon Records
  • 2004: The Secret of Life , Longman Records
  • 2007: Precious Little , UOGB
  • 2008: Christmas with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain , UOGB
  • 2015: (Every Such) Pretty Girls , UOGB
  • 2017: By Request, Songs from the Set List , George Hinchliffe

Concert albums

  • 2008: Live in London # 1 , UOGB
  • 2009: Live in London # 2 , UOGB
  • 2013: UKE-WERK (The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Live in Germany) , UOGB

Scrapbooks

  • 2001: Top Notch , UOGB

Singles

  • 2005: Dy-na-mi-tee , Longman Records
  • 2013: Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) - The Ukelele Orchestra Vs Ibiza Air, UOGB (EP)

DVD

  • 2005: Anarchy in the Ukulele, UOGB
  • 2009: Prom Night - Live at the Royal Albert Hall - BBC Proms 2009, UOGB

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History. In: Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Retrieved November 23, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b 3sat: program information (accessed on May 21, 2008)
  3. ↑ TIPI tent at the Chancellery: Announcement ( memento of the original from October 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on May 21, 2008) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tipi-das-zelt.de
  4. ↑ ZDFtheaterkanal program information ( memento of the original from June 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on May 21, 2008) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.theaterkanal.de
  5. ^ Guardian Unlimited review of appearance at Barbican, 2004
  6. ^ Telegraph review of appearance at Komedia, Brighton, 2005
  7. ↑ Dave Laing: Kitty Lux obituary . In: The Guardian . July 25, 2017, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed May 15, 2020]).