First, thanks to catesby for so ably covering SNLC last week. Second....
For those with memories long enough to recall, tonight's SNLC is a sequel to SNLC 169, about the performance by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall, Prom 45 of the 2009 Proms which took place this past Tuesday night. You still have time to listen to the concert here until 22:00 GMT (10 PM their time) next Tuesday. You can even read the program notes (we are at The Proms, after all). If you really want to trump your loser status tonight, you can listen while browsing DK or SNLC :) . With that....
One thing I didn't realize about the evolutionary history of the ukulele, as noted in Ivan Hewett's recent article from the Telegraph, is the pre-Hawaiian ancestry:
"In 1886 the Hawaiian Annual noted with disgust that the natives had taken to 'the banjo and that hideous small Portuguese instrument now called the 'taro-patch fiddle'. This 'fiddle' was none other than the ukulele, so it turns out the instrument can't even claim to be the authentic sound of Hawaii. It's just a low-born Portuguese sailor's instrument, cheap to make, robust, and good for strumming along to a song."
Robert Maycock elaborates in the program notes:
"The ukulele does indeed come from Hawaii and it shares its colonial-era source with the Latin American plucked strings, since it evolved in the late 19th century from the machete da braça, which was taken there by Portuguese immigrant workers from Madeira."
Neil Spencer noted in his preview article, with relation to the 2008 Presidential campaign (embedded links are mine, not his):
"People smile when they see ukuleles, like they do with babies and puppies," says music writer and 'ukeoholic' Sylvie Simmons, who last year called for an online 'Million Uke March' in support of Barack Obama, and plays at San Francisco's assorted clubs.'
As noted on the Million Uke March page, however, regarding Sylvie Simmons:
"Sylvie is a London-born, San Francisco-based, rock journalist, author and ukaholic. Although deeply in love with all things American, she can't cast a ballot in the US election, being a Brit, but, like she says, 'I sure can strum'."
So what did the UOGB play? Well, it matched fairly well, if not exactly in the right order, the selections given in the Proms program booklet:
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, Prom 45
Royal Albert Hall
Kensington Gore
London SW7 2AP
Playlist:
(1) Edward White: "Puffin' Billy"
(2) The Sex Pistols: "Anarchy in the UK"
(3) Wagner: "Ride of the Valkyries" / Macmanus & Calvert: "Silver Machine"
(4) "Life on Mars" / "My Way" / "For Once In My Life" / "Born Free" / "Substitute"
(5) John Barry/Don Black: "Thunderball"
(6) Wheatus: "Teenage Dirtbag"
(7) Saint-Saens: Danse macabre
(8) Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry: Jerusalem
(9) Talking Heads: "Psycho Killer"
(10) Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, "Ode to Joy" (sort of)
(11) The Who: "Pinball Wizard" (a cappella, i.e. no ukes here)
(12) Eric Coates: March from The Dam Busters
Encores:
(13) "Sympathy for the Devil" / "On the Boardwalk" / "Hey Jude" / "You Sexy Thing" / "Angels" / "Demons"
(14) Kate Bush: "Wuthering Heights"
By the way, any Captain Kangaroo fans there? Selection 1 is for you. And speaking of that medley at the end, from Tim Ashley and Jack Malvern, respectively:
"Pop songs are woven together in counterpoint to stress their almost plagiarist similarity."
"As the concert drew to a close, the band politely demonstrated the similarity of pop tunes with a medley that dissolved into 'Hey Jude'".
For the "vox populi" comments, you can check out:
(a) The Proms Reviews page
(b) The BBC Radio 3 Performance Prom 45 thread
For the more "formal reviews":
(1) Tim Ashley, The Guardian
(2) Neil Fisher, The Times
(3) Peter Reed, Telegraph
Since SNLC is a community diary series on DK, you might note this from Tim Ashley's review:
"More than 1,000 people, including Proms director Roger Wright, had brought their own ukes along for a communal performance of the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth."
This other article from the Telegraph elaborated:
"The crowd had their chance to play along in an excerpt from Beethoven's Ode to Joy, culminating in a crescendo of ukulele sound that met with cheers and applause."
Jack Malvern in The Times elaborated here on Roger Wright, the big boss of The Proms, joining in the festivities:
"Roger Wright, Controller of BBC Radio 3, had learnt the ukulele especially for the concert, and played the melody while two of his children played the chords. 'I'm a cello and piano player, so the notion of plucked instruments was not at all in my repertoire....I played the tune because my arthritic fingers gave me such agony I couldn’t play the chords.'
Verity Sharp, the BBC Radio 3 presenter who introduced the late-night Prom, also joined in by playing the melody. 'When we did the rehearsal, I was surprised at how soft it was. I thought that 1,000 of anything would be a racket, but they’re such small, soft instruments. It was really soft, gentle and sweet.'"
In addition, about whether (or not) the gathering broke the world's record for largest ukulele ensemble:
"The band, which has been going for almost 25 years, hoped to attract about 200 players. In the event, the gathering surpassed the world record for largest ukulele ensemble, set at the London Ukulele Festival on June 20, but will not enter the record books because the actual number of players could not be verified. So full was the sold-out hall that room could not be found for the people who would count the number of players."
The announcer, Verity Sharp, summed up the UOGB's mission concisely:
"25 years in the business of making people smile"
Just to get a sense of that, click on this photo link.
Oh yeah, what did 3CM think of the concert? Well, it was good-natured lighthearted fun, although the classical arrangements did seem just a little stiff compared to the pop songs (conforming to stereotype, I guess). The big surprise for me was the rendition of Jerusalem, which I expected to be a huge sing-along by the audience as well as the UOGC, with all the ukuleles at full strum, in the spirit of the Last Night, such as in 1999:
This turned out to be no such thing. It proved to be a solo rendition, by Kitty Lux, just one woman and her uke. It takes guts to sing that selection of all selections, in that venue of all venues, in that festival of all festivals. The reason why will have to wait until a future SNLC, however :) .
Oh, and AFAICT, no one made any illegal (ahem) videos at the RAH and uploaded them to YouTube. You may notice also, if you clicked through to the BBC Messageboard thread on this concert, that the BBC did not televise this concert. From the UOGB page, however, by way of explanation:
"PROMS DVD
We filmed the whole Proms performance and are currently producing a DVD that you will be able to buy only from our website."
Even if they take some inspiration from the "Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire", in UOGB leader George Hinchliffe's words, they're pretty smart businesspeople, seems to me.
So it's Saturday night, and yes, 3CM is a loser (as usual) for recycling a topic. But this actually qualifies as a genuine sequel, don't you think? With that lame attempt at self-justification, it's your turn below, for your loser stories of the week.....