Inspiring
STRIKING A CHORD
Forget George Formby. The ukulele has found a whole new audience – and lease of life – thanks to an eight-strong band of talented extroverts. We joined them on board a couple of Vauxhall Zafiras…
WORDS BY MARTIN GURDON, PICTURES BY RICHARD PARSONS.
Mention the ukulele and most people would think George Formby – or perhaps Beatle George Harrison, who was a great ukulele player and champion of this small guitar-like instrument. But those in the know – and their number is growing – will cite The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, whose beautifully played, often hilarious variations on everything from Sibelius to Nirvana, have made them a huge live draw.
When the Orchestra was booked by the Rye Arts Festival in Sussex, we jumped at the chance to give them a lift in a couple of Vauxhall Zafira 1.9 CDTi SRi with Exterior Pack models, and find out about life as touring musicians.
The performers that make up The Ukulele Orchestra (The Ukes) – Dave Suich, Peter Brooke-Turner, Hester Goodman, George Hinchliffe, Richie Williams, Kitty Lux, Will Grove-White and Jonty Bankes – are from widely-different backgrounds.
Dave has been a compere at Glastonbury for the last 10 years and is in a rap band as a side project. Peter, a veteran of TV comedy, has been a Eurovision Song Contest finalist. Hester has written and performed her own shows, and worked in TV, theatre and dance. George has written TV and film music and played 100 songs from 100 years in 100 minutes! Richie is a phenomenal jazz guitarist. Kitty received a Radio 2 song-writing award and the Queen’s Award for Industry. Will has made acclaimed TV programmes, and lastly Jonty has been part of the rhythm section for many legendary rock and blues artists including Louisiana Red and Marcus Malone.
The Orchestra has rhythm, bass, baritone, tenor, soprano and lead ukulele players. Sitting shoulder to shoulder in a semi-circle, they dress in formal evening wear like a symphony orchestra, reworking classics of rock’n’roll, punk, jazz and classical music.
You can thank the Smurfs for the band’s existence. In 1985, George and Richie were in a soul act, supporting the likes of Edwin Starr, when Richie challenged George to have a go at playing his toddler’s blue, plastic ukulele-sized Smurf guitar. “George can play anything and he made some nice noises,” said Richie. So nice, in fact, that this led to an impromptu pub gig with proper ukuleles and an expanded line-up of players. It wasn’t long before the band did a live session for Radio 1 and appeared at the Womad music festival.
There have been a few personnel changes but they’ve barely stopped since, making hundreds of appearances on radio and TV worldwide, including BBC’s Electric Proms, Jools Holland’s Hootenanny, Radio 4’s Loose Ends and ITV’s This Morning Show. They’ve performed sell-out concerts in America, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Ireland and Japan, in venues ranging from Ronnie Scott’s London jazz club to the Chicago Chamber Music Festival.
It hasn’t been all plain sailing though. Their early days were spent travelling the country playing tiny village halls. “At one gig everybody in the village turned up to see us, including a cat,” remembered Hester.
And at another, a student’s ball in a huge auditorium, they hadn’t been provided with monitor speakers which allow a band to hear itself. “The other speakers were a long way away,” recalled George, “so you’d play a note and –‘ding’ – it came back a second later. It was like being in a room with another band. It was a nightmare. Afterwards the punters said they’d really enjoyed it, but we were in bits.”