my name is mwd

Last night Laura and I went to see The Ukulele Orchestra of the UK at the Cambridge Arts Theatre. An 8 piece all Ukulele ensemble that do a very good array of covers and original material that had me grinning and bopping along in my seat all night.

Musically they’re all very talented players and good singers – it’s certainly the first time I’ve seen anyone play slide ukulele. Humour wise think Radio 4 comedy and you’ll get the right pitch. Indeed, there was something deliciously wrong and amusing about a be-suited ukulele orchestra getting a crowd in a Cambridge theatre to sing along to the chorus of one particular song – resulting in a subdued harmony of Radio 4 types singing “I want to be… anarchy” :) In addition to humour in the music, they do a good patter between tracks and throw in a little physical humour too.

Anyway, I had a great time, so if you get a chance to see them then I do recommend it, and if not, try and get an album or grab some downloads off their web site.

No picture of the group alas, but I’ll leave you with this clip of them on Later… covering what they described as “a modern folk song from Seattle”: