1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall

Subject: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Will Fly
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 06:22 PM

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is just completing a live 'Prom' at the Albert Hall - broadcast on Radio 3. Great stuff as usual - with 1,000 ukes in the audience joining in with the Orchestra's 8 ukes on Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".

Is this the first time there's been a mass audience joining-in at a Prom - other than singing, of course?

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: GUEST,Joe G
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 06:50 PM

I thought the Beethoven 9 was the highlight of the night as I had heard most of the other material before

Complaints are already coming in to the R3 message board

Not sure if it is the first joining in with instruments - may well be unless they have done something at the Childrens' Prom.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: MoorleyMan
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 07:03 PM

It was a good fun prom, but with some pretty solid musicianship too. Not everyone can have heard most of the other material before, so it must be counted good healthy profile for the Orchestra and its cause.
Complaints? - jeez, there's nowt so queer as folk! But why stop at Freude schone Gotterfunken? The very idea of a uke transcription of the whole of Beethoven's 9th symphony is a feast for the active imagination... go for it George!

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Cool Beans
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 10:41 PM

Now they know how many ukes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 02:06 AM

Any Youtube videos yet?

Seamus

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 08:55 AM

A missed opportunity to kill 1008 feckin ukes, which surely would have been a kindness.

Dave H

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: MoorleyMan
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 09:18 AM

No Dave, they're NOT banjos! (That popular misconception makes a true uke-enthusiast p-uke...!)

Something should be up on UkeTube by now, surely?

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Will Fly
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 09:20 AM

Ah Dave, you'd have loved it! They kicked off the set with "Puffing Billy" - wonderful...

Give your mind to the Dark Side - you just know you want that tenor ukulele.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 10:11 AM

Baritone maybe.

Dave H

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Mick Woods
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 01:41 PM

Good to see my old mate Joe Bazouki has achieved fame at last!

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 01:47 PM

A damper: as I said on the RIV thread, it should have been an English Cittern Orchestra - the ukulele is Hawaiian, and GB should be dissolved into republics.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 01:49 PM

I am against capital punishment but above a certain number and I think I would vote for its reintroduction for large numbers of Ukists sounds too much like Ukip

L in C

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Will Fly
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 01:55 PM

A damper: as I said on the RIV thread, it should have been an English Cittern Orchestra - the ukulele is Hawaiian, and GB should be dissolved into republics.

And, as I said on the RIV thread, you can't subordinate music to ideology. Only plonkers do that. There's no earthly reason to imagine that a so-called "English cittern" has any more relevance to our life than a uke. We've been all over this before on other threads, and you're simply peddling your blinkered, unrealistic view of Englishness. Ultimately pointless - if only you could see it, WAV.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Jamming With Ollie Beak (inactive)
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 01:56 PM

Now this is what I call SOUL music...WAV not withstanding (with his ever increasingly boring and xenophobic remarks)

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 02:19 PM

I'm fairly sure no of this should be taken seriously but what the hell ............... the uke is a fine thing as is a screwdriver but lots are just missing the point

L in C

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Jamming With Ollie Beak (inactive)
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 02:35 PM

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain does Nirvana
Here

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Jamming With Ollie Beak (inactive)
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 02:39 PM

ooops and this.
If you weren't there you can hear the concert:
Prom 45 - Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: GUEST,JohnMc
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 06:05 AM

You can get free lessons here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2009/takepart/ukulele/

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 06:21 AM

Another damper - sadly, many in England now think that the height of culture is being good at another land's culture...why not, rather, revive the English cittern?

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: s&r
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 06:52 AM

And another thread...

Stu

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Will Fly
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 07:04 AM

Revive it if it's worth reviving is the point. And people who are interested in arts and cultural matters don't do them because they consciously want to be good at another land's culture. They do them because they find them interesting, stimulating, exciting, tempting.

In the 1950s, as I well recall, Sunday lunch often included vegetables that were boiled to hell and back - to the point of being a smelly mush. Should we revive that method of cooking simply because it was "English"? Do try and get a handle on this, David: just because something is (as you think) "native" to one's country doesn't necessarily make it inherently good or worthwhile.

You don't seem to be able to get away from a point of view which dictates that artistic expression - or any other expression - has to flow from a nationalist ideology. It doesn't work that way. When you finally understand this, you might start to talk some sense.

Anyway, enough of you, WAV - I must hie me back to my new tenor guitar - an instrument with 4 strings, tuned like a viola, which arose in the 1920s as an alternative device for band musicians who had trained on fiddles and/or tenor banjo. A great instrument, which lends itself to traditional tunes and to jazz.

An example here. You might note, in passing, that this sort of stuff was a huge favourite of Jim Copper.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 08:35 AM

For what it's worth, Will, I'm glad some of our traditions have largely gone - e.g., it's good that tractors have replaced the harsh work of heavy-horses in fields, in my opinion. But we in England have many fine traditions that are being largely forgotten, as modern English prefer to perform (rather than just appreciate) the cultures of other lands, more-and-more.

My pentium 2 struggles with such videos, sorry - but I have heard Eliza Carthy and Seth Lakeman playing the tenor guitar, via TV.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Stringsinger
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 09:23 AM

In defense of the uke, it's capable of complex chordal harmony, something that is missing
from today's contemporary pop music. That's why it was popular in the 20's and 30's. You could play some decent songs designed by professional songwriters, not the puerile
three-chord crap you hear on the radio.

I wish these uke orchestras wouldn't waste their time on silly rock tunes.

Frank

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Surreysinger
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 09:31 AM

Re the uke, it has, of course, now been taken over succesfully by some schools instead of the recorder in order to introduce young pupils to music making. Probably no bad thing - I recall struggling with the recorder, and being totally uninterested in it. It's an instrument that is difficult to play well, and no doubt put many youngsters off because of this, whereas the ukulele is an easy instrument to get basic chords out of to start with. Played well, it can be a virtuouso's instrument - witness the results which the Ukulele Orchestra of GB attain. As to "wasting their time", Frank, I'd beg to differ. The range of different types of music and song that they achieve would defeat many other musicians, and in certain instances (Anarchy in the UK ?) creates a totally different beast from the original with a good degree of wit and expertise = entertainment with skill and expertise.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Will Fly
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 09:59 AM

"Anarchy in the UK" is great fun - and I loved their versions of "Je t'aime" and "London Calling" when I saw them at Dorking last year. For me, the highlights of their repertoire are always "The Devil's Gallop", "The Dambusters March" and "Puffing Billy".

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: GUEST,Mr Red
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 10:06 AM

Just as well it wasn't Beethoven 5

I can just see the audience going "Ha, ha, ha, haaaaaa"

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 02:08 PM

What a disappointment! The BBC only offers the audio of the concert. I would love the chance to watch the entire spectacle, including views of the eager audience, picnicking while plucking before the doors open.

I have been reading about the cittern. It doesn't seem particularly English. Just another member of the ever-evolving zither group.

Our planet isn't very big, and some parts of human culture are world-wide. For example, pottery, cooking, and earrings. I believe that the 'Western scale' (do re me fa so la ti do) and stringed instruments could be added to the list of world cultural items. This means that the ukelele isn't Hawaiian anymore. It is a worldwide treasure.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Jamming With Ollie Beak (inactive)
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 02:22 PM

"why not, rather, revive the English cittern?"
-WalkaboutsVerse
Oh why don't you give it a rest and stop inflicting your whining about an England that never existed, except in Ealing Films (at least they have some grit to them)and in your mind...a hint, WAV...no one cares, and if they have cared it's long gone under the weight of your xenophobic rants that are littered all over Mudcat.

Ollie Beak (Ms)

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 02:36 PM

Beak - "xenophobia" is a morbid fear of strangers: I HAVE enjoyed travelling, on my shoestring Walkabouts, through about 40 countries - and, as such, being among, as a visitor, many a culture, thanks.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Jamming With Ollie Beak (inactive)
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 02:41 PM

so what? and I REALLY don't want to visit your website thanks. I stand by what I said. As I said, no one cares about citterns and this mythical England you seem to think existed/exists. Get a grip on reality and take alook around you, England (and the rest of Britain for that matter) is multicultural, multi racial, multi everything, and it's not going to change anytime soon, so get over it!

Olivia Beak (Ms)

half and half

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: The Vulgar Boatman
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 07:35 PM

I was there. It was sodding amazing, and the missus played Beethoven with the best of them. A DVD is to be produced.
In this troubled world, precisely what is wrong with this glorious silliness?

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 09:54 PM

Thank you, VB. I'll be on the lookout for that DVD.

P.S. You don't seem vulgar to me.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 02:33 AM

It was just a blast!!!
Good to hear that a DVD will be forthcoming.
An absolute breath of fresh air, and hats off to Roger Wright (Boss of R3) to have booked them..In the same way that he booked the Folk Prom last year.
Listening to it, I'm sure that in spite of the knockabout stuff, Wuthering Heights, Silver Machine etc, The Ukes took the gig very seriously, (Hon Mench to the Valkyries. Hadn't heard that before).
And to get 1000 people to play at a Prom. Just sheer genius.
So, to all the people knocking this Prom. Get a Life.
Music is about fun and participation. The more people who get involved, the better.
As for WAV...Words fail me...I play both the "English" (sic) Cittern,(well it was made in Northumberland anyway!) and the Ukelele..Which should I give up??? Pray tell me.
Just wish I could have got a ticket...

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 02:36 AM

And as Will says to have started with "Puffing Billy" was just sheer genius.
A Doffing of caps to BBC Radio in the 50's, Uncle Mac and all. Brilliant!

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Jamming With Ollie Beak (inactive)
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 09:55 AM

"In this troubled world, precisely what is wrong with this glorious silliness?"
- The Vulgar Boatman
Absolutely nothing wrong with silliness at all, we need more of it, and thanks to that modern technology that is DVD more of us will be able to experience this wonderful event


Maybe a concerto for massed ukuleles and Bulgarian bagpipes next....?

"I was just leaving..."

Olivia Beak (Ms)

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 12:20 PM

"Music is about fun and participation. The more people who get involved, the better."...yes, Ralphie, but why not with English citterns upon an English cittern revival...next year?..

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Jamming With Ollie Beak (inactive)
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 12:34 PM

"but why not with English citterns upon an English cittern revival...next year?.."

why? I've yet to see an answer to the "cittern problem" If it's simply because it's English and evidence of that is highly questionable, simply because from the 16th until the 18th century the cittern was a common English barber shop instrument, doesn't mean it's origins are English.
It seems to me that the term cittern is a generic one and has ben applied to the bouzouki, the octave mandola, the tenor mandola and the mandocello, to name just a few instruments

so, WAV, mandocellos at dawn on Wimbledon Common is it? *LOL*

Olivia Beak (Ms)
CC-GG-dd-aa

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Surreysinger
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 01:50 PM

This was the review of this Prom in the Times yesterday. Interestingly enough their critic considered the gig to be demonstrative of typical English nature. There was also an associated report from one of their reporters who participated. I love the description of the band in the publicity for their Liverpool concert in October "Their live show is as though kissing cousins from The Addams Family and The Simpsons are explaining The Turner Prize via Desert Island Discs." Eclectic or what?

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: ced2
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 02:46 PM

Dave Hanson is right! A sadly missed opportunity... next time we should organise the portable chain saws! We speak from bitter knowledge of Uke bands ( or similar!)

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Surreysinger
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 04:30 PM

Which rather makes me think that you've never seen or heard this band ced2 ...

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 07:09 PM

WAV....
Very Simple....Even you might understand.
You can get a Ukelele for about £25.
To have a Cittern made by a decent Luthier could cost anything from £800 to £1500 or indded more. My Sobell cittern cost about £600 in 1973.
Don't think you'd get a very large number of players in the Albert for one tune would you?
And for the final time the Cittern is NOT AN ENGLISH INSTRUMENT...Geddit?
Wht am I bothering?

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 11:17 PM

Never mind all that. WAV, do you play a cittern? One source I looked at said the strings are tuned in fifths so it is easy to play.

Do you find it easy to play? What kind of music you play on it?

I understand it has two strings close together at each position. I've seen lutes, which are strung like that, and i find them rather daunting.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 04:50 AM

"WAV....
Very Simple....Even you might understand.
You can get a Ukelele for about £25.
To have a Cittern made by a decent Luthier could cost anything from £800 to £1500 or indded more. My Sobell cittern cost about £600 in 1973.
Don't think you'd get a very large number of players in the Albert for one tune would you?
And for the final time the Cittern is NOT AN ENGLISH INSTRUMENT...Geddit?
Wht am I bothering?" (Ralphie)...It IS one of the instruments "OF, OR CLOSELY ASSOCIATED, WITH ENLGAND" (from here, as well as that Mudcat thread); and I'd nationalise such production (same link for my views on capitalism).

Leeneia - the English flute and keyboards (yes, ideally it would be, rather, an English concertina) are, frankly, about as much as I can chew re. my repertoire of 50-60 English pieces (same link).

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: ced2
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 01:11 PM

Heard them on the radio, still was not impressed!

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 04:22 PM

Nationalise Cittern Production?????!!!!
What planet do you think you are on WAV?
If you managed to get every Luthier in the country to start making them today....You might get 100 or so made by the next Prom season....
And I suppose you've got a spare 10,000 quid burning a hole in your pocket to pay for them?
And then there is the little matter of teaching 100 or so people to play these mythical (Foreign) instruments to a proper standard in the 3 or so weeks leading up to the next Prom season...
You really haven't got the faintest clue what you're talking about, have you?
BTW Flutes aren't English, and I think the Yamaha DX7 was invented in Japan...

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 04:43 PM

Unit cost would drop as demand for English citterns, rather than Hawaiian ukuleles, in England increased, Ralphie.

And the English flute.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 10:33 PM

It is always nice to meet another recorder player. I'm going to use a theme by Handel which I found on the Mudcat (now known as 'Did you see my lady') for an offertory tomorrow at church. On an alto recorder.

Last night I showed my husband a few video by the Ukelele Orchestra. At first he said he wouldn't be interested, but after watching a while he enjoyed them very much.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 02:14 AM

Unit cost would drop as demand for Citterns increases??
How?
In nearly 40 years of semi pro and pro playing, I've only met about 10 people who play the cittern, (and that includes working with baroque orchestras!!!)Not that much of a demand really, is there?
Sorry Old Pal...The figures just don't work.
Go on....Prove me wrong...Order a 1000 citterns (and pay for them) and teach 1000 people how to play one. Off you go.
See you in the Albert Hall next summer.

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 04:08 AM

More cultural fascism from our resident racist I see! It's pointless arguing with WAV as his word is Absolute Law - and Absolute Bullshit besides! Sad, sad, sad...

Subject: RE: 1008 ukuleles at the Albert Hall
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 04:57 AM

Fascism is a morbid fear of strangers, S, and it's me, not you, who has ENJOYED travelling through about 40 countries; further, questioning instrument of choice has nothing to do with "racism"; and, until now, you are the only one on this thread who has resorted to such cowardly tactics - others have disagreed but stuck to the debate.

Ralphie - but is that due to a trend/an attitude, or that the cittern is a far worse instrument than the ukulele, the guitar, the mandolin, the bouzouki..? I heard the English cittern is particularly good for outdoor-playing, as its sound carries well...