Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra – Blue Smoke (Chords) Lest you think ukuleles and New Zealand are a new phenomenon, the first record entirely produced in New Zealand, Blue Smoke, was a uke-featuring hapa haole song recorded when the technology was just reaching New Zealand way back in 1993 (you can read the full, and more […]

WIUO/Desmond Dekker – Israelites (Chords) The ukulele seems to be a big hit with the ad makers at the moment. A few that leap to mind are McDonalds, Travelocity, e.on and, of course, the Hawaii Chair. And the Wellingtons have got in on the action providing tunes for a series of Whitcoulls ads (including Ruby […]

New videos from the Corner Laughers, GUGUG, The Sweet Hollywiians’ Tomotaka Matsui on lap steel ukulele and plenty more.

MGM has the latest batch of Flea and Fluke ukuleles: Bamboo Fluke, Tie-Dye Fluke, Denim Flea, Camp Flea. Fender Ukuleles turn up on eBay UK. Some serious vintage charm to this Dobro Cyclops ukulele. One of the Collings Guitars ukuleles cropped up on eBay. Not often you see RISA ukuleles on eBay in the US […]

Jon Snow learns to love the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (but can’t grasp the concept that there being no guitarist in the band). Download a whole load of Garfunkel and Oates (Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome). In the ‘Where are they now?’ file, Michael Barreto Hindert of The Bravery played a couple of songs […]

WIUO/Kings of Leon – The Bucket (Chords) An excellent choice of song for any ukulele group: dead easy chords and plenty of widdling for the flash Harrys. Megan’s intro is based on the chords switching between the major and the 5 chord: The twiddly bit that comes after that, and crops up a few times […]

Ukulele groups, clubs and orchestras seem to be springing up all over the place at the moment. But if you’re setting up a ukulele group where do you start? I asked a number of people that have done just that to find out. The experts: Andy of Hull Ukulele Group Corrie of Brockley Ukulele Group […]

WIUO/Outkast – Hey Ya (Chords) Hey Ya was the first song I – and I suspect most people here – heard from the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra. It’s coming up on half a million YouTube views and over 500 comments – most of them saying, “Is that that dude off of Flight of the Conchords? […]

If I had to pick one group to represent where the ukulele scene is right now, I’d go with the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra: a big bunch of sexy people singing songs with huge grins on their faces. In honour of that fact, this week is dedicated to the WIUO kicking off with and interview […]

Yurima – River Flows in You (Tab) MP3 I’ve done plenty of TV, book and game themes but I think this is the first book theme I’ve done. There seems to be a fair bit of confusion about what constitutes Bella’s/Edward’s Lullaby which I got caught up in. When I was working it out, as […]