Friday Links

The Institute of Hawaiian Music is looking for aspiring musicians to take part in its mentorship programme with some of the top Hawaiian players.

The original ukulele-sized bass, the Ashbory Bass disappeared for a while. But it’s now back in business and with a much-reduced price tag.

The story of the women who made Gibson’s best guitars during WWII.

Latest attempt to solve the ukulele strap problem: the Mobius strap.

Pictures
– The original cast of No, No, Nanette bust out the ukuleles (via @ShelleyRickey).
– Cool hand uke.
– Tall, Short, Uke, Bass.
– Cthulu Ukulele Hero.

New Releases
– A bear-pun based album from Tyrone and Lesley.
– Buy Kyle Frazer’s debut album on his website or just the originals on CDBaby
– Outside Myself by Maria Brosgol

Video
– Oh Little Town of Pokemon, they call the Rising Sun – lots of songs to the tune of lots of other songs.

Some hilarious trolling from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner: “No matter what twee folk musicians and advertisers of online greeting cards will tell you, it sounds like a child’s instrument. It has all the resonance of an asthmatic flea blowing into a pillow and the clarity of a secret service document with all the verbs redacted. The ukulele is very much the poor relation of the guitar, banjo and mandolin.”