Two videos this week from Hawaiian legend Cyril Pahinui backed by Peter Moon on ukulele. Also up is Lisa Hannigan covering the song everyone is covering at the moment, The Leftover Cuties covering Regina Spektor and Phredd covers a guy in a skin-tight superhero outfit he found in a spaceship.
Signed charity ukuleles: One signed by Seth Rogan, Aziz Ansari, Judd Apatow, Bruno Mars, Patton Oswalt, Charlyne Yi and others. And one just signed by Tune-Yards.
Ukulele badges (via Ukulele Porn).
Some ukes from the 20s: slightly abused 1920s Gibson, 6-string Favila Wimbrola, Martin Style 2 koa taropatch.
I’ve been dying to hear more about Indonesian protest punks Marjinal since, let me see, the 26th June 2009. They give ukuleles to street kids and teach them to play so they can earn money busking. Now there’s a Kickstarter to make a documentary about them. I kicked in straight away.
Trailer for a Jake Shimabukuro documentary. According to the video description, “the World Premiere of this captivating documentary –PLAYING ONE NIGHT ONLY!” Bummer.
Remember that time in 2012 when someone decided to make a ukulele out of an iPad and and an iPhone and it sounded like a goat dragging a bag of conkers over a sheet of corrugated iron? Yeah, that was pretty funny.
The ‘… for Dummies’ people have an offer on their books every March. Right now on Amazon UK you can pick up a copy of Ukulele for Dummies at half price.
Howlin’ Hobbit has a new album of standards out Standards Issue. You can get it on his website – it’s currently ‘pay what you like’. It’s an excellent record, so great ukulele lines. Well worth throwing something in the hat.
Eff Barzley did a lovely ukulele session for I Am Fuel, You Are Friends.
Bossarocker is starting up a uke-up in Levenshulme (Manchester).
Garfunkel and Oates sum up the Independent Spirit Awards.
Vintage ukuleles (and a mandolin) in old movies (thanks to Ron Hale).
Strings made of spider silk (via HVDC).
On Uker Tabs: Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling, The Fruit Bats, Cake and The B***les.
The uke is so easy to play a chimpanzee or a dog or a duck or a cat could do it.
Keith Allen prepares for his meeting with Nick Griffin by playing the ukulele in the European Parliament (that link might not work outside the UK).
Somebody That I Used to Know (Instrumental Tab)
I’ve already put up the chords for this song. But when Voxdog sent me his arrangement for an instrumental version I had to put it up here and do my own version.
My version is very similar to Voxdog’s. But I’ve shaved out quite a few of the sections and I take fewer trips up the fretboard (it makes it a lot easier to play while staring into space).
I encourage you to do your own take on the arrangement as well. This one is a good place to start for doing that too. The melody is really strong so as long as you have that going on you can fill in the backing in any way you like the sound of.
There are more of Voxdog’s arrangements here: Mele Kalikimaka, Sweet Child O’ Mine and Here Comes the Sun.
Coldplay – Yellow
Coldplay – Yellow (Instrumental Tab)
I did a similar thing with voxdog’s tab for Yellow. His tab is above. I read through his and busked together my own version based on that.
Download the MP3
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Podcast #14 in your face. And it’s a bumper, all female edition to celebrate International Women’s Day including an interview with ukulelist and cookbook compiler Rose Turtler Ertler.
Tracklist
1. Ukulelezo – Bikini Song
2. Armelle Europe – Maelström
3. Savannah Smith – Comeback Baby
4. Livi Yiu – Romantic Lullaby
5. Mary Agnes Covery-Krell – I Gave Your Unicorn A Black Eye
6. Wendy Solomon – Odious Michael
7. Kendra Korshak – Bye Bye Brooklyn
8. Rose Turtle Ertler Interview Part 1
9. Rose Turtle Ertler – Follow Me Down the Way
10. Rose Turtle Ertler Interview Part 2
11. Rose Turtle Ertler – Hiccup
12. Team Stephanie – Far Love
13. Ruth Wilksinson – Strange Bird
14. Salwa Azar – Fire and Ice
15. Isla Maclean – Dance With Me Tonight
16. Corner Laughers – Twice the Luck
17. Shelley O’Brien – Turn Into Spring
18. The Balconettes sing about a personal problem
You can get in touch and submit tracks for consideration if you follow the rules (particularly the one about file format) via:
A Banda Mais Bonita da Cidade – Oração (Chords)
No surprises that I got a few requests for the chords to the ukulele video of the year.
It’s a very simple song. Just one section repeating. And I’ve written up the simple chords as Rodrigo left them in the comments. But you can fancy up the G chord part by switching between the the fourth and fifth fret on the A-string (make that a bit easier to play by just playing the g-string open).
Suggested Strumming
Rodrigo is doing all down strums for his section but with the off-beats emphasised.
d D d D d D d D
Or you can follow the mandola part which goes like this:
d u d u – u d u
I don’t usually put up album cover videos but I had to make an exception for the uke track on David’s Lyre’s new album. You can get it on Bandcamp on a ‘pay what you like’ basis. It’s well worth throwing in a few quid – it’s an excellent album.
Also up folkiness from The Staves, hula dancing with Da Ukulele Boyz, some Bach from Richard Durrant and more besides.
Classical and traditional tab site PDF Minstrel now has a sister site with modern tunes PDF Uker.
New Releases: Jacob Borschard has completed the Beach Boy’s album SMiLE with vocals and ukulele of his own and you can download it on his website, Garfunkel and Oates are Slippery When Moist.
If you’re ever thinking of doing one of those ‘cute ukulele girls‘ bits you might want to read this first.
George Clooney, “hums a Hawaiian ditty while playing the ukulele”. Apparently.
Portlandia demonstrates the relative portability of instruments with Joanna Newsom and a ukulele.
Pictures: Brian May, Robert Lindsay on a bike, Ukulele Squirrel
Here Comes the Sun (Harp Ukulele Version)
Since I put up two videos played on my aNueNue harp ukulele I’ve had a steady stream of tab requests. Strange since most people requesting them don’t even own one. My arrangement of Albatross wouldn’t work on a standard ukulele. But my version of Here Comes the Sun certainly could.
It works so well on ukulele I was convinced it was written on one. It uses a capo on the 7th fret of the guitar which makes it the same tuning as a D-tuned ukulele (George’s favourite) and fits just fine on four strings. But according to Eric Clapton in the George Harrison documentary it was written on guitar.
For the harp version I’m tuned as aNueNue suggest with the bass strings as C, D, E, F and the uke strings in low-G tuning.
Standard Tuning Version
Here Comes the Sun Riff (Standard Tuning)
Here’s a slightly adapted version for a standard tuned ukulele. Use D-tuning or slap on a capo at the second fret if you want to be in the same key as the original.
Votes have been cast, hanging chads have been assessed, last year’s winner has been dethroned and cast to the wolves, and the winner of Ukulele Video of the Year 2011 is A Banda Mais Bonita da Cidade’s Oração. With more views than all the others on the list put together, a joyous video and a tune that makes me sing along despite having no idea what I’m saying, it was a clear winner.
Second place was Lisa Hannigan. You can find all the results here.
Vaguely interesting fact: Ukulele Video of the Year has never been won by someone from the same country twice. So far: an American, two Japanese puppets, a Welshman, a Canadian and now a bunch of Brazilians.
A Ukulelist Mais Bonita da Cidade, Rodrigo ‘Lemoskine‘ Lemos was kind enough to answer a few questions.
Congratulations on winning! Can you tell us a bit about what inspired the video and how it was filmed?
Thank you all, people from Uke Hunt! We’re very happy to represent our folks here. Well, the idea for the video came up as we were invited by our sweet friend Ana Larousse – who also is a singer/composer – to spend the weekend at her grandma’s house in Rio Negro, this very little town in Paraná, south Brazil. By this time, the band already had gigs and a large set of songs in which “Oração” (by Leo Fressato) was kind of “in charge” to be arranged. We just told people to come over for the weekend and brought all of our audio and video equipment to shoot it.
For us non-Portuguese speakers, what’s Oração about?
You’d have to ask Leo, if you wanna know better lol. But certainly he’s gonna tell you it’s pretty much about love and hate. He was like so stuck to a bad experience on a past relationship that the only way out was to start being lovely, instead of being greedy. The main verse says “My love, this is the everlasting pray to save your heart…”.
How did the band get started and why did you name it A Banda Mais Bonita da Cidade?
The band began to play gigs in 2009, when Uyara (vocalist) and Vinicius (keyboardist, director of “Oração” sequence) came together with this idea of reinventing other people songs. At first, I was featuring on the debut show as a composer and special guest musician… by the second time, I was officially in the band. The name was suggested by Vinicius, and it came from a story by Bukowski which is called “The Most Beautiful Woman in Town”.
The video made a huge splash all over the world. What do you made it so popular?
I’m not sure, obviously. We think that is the truth behind it and the friendship we’re celebrating there. I guess people simply identify with that…
How did you first start playing the ukulele?
It was back in 2010, when I first visited New York City. I was already in love with the instrument because of George Harrison’s tribute “Concert for George” (you know, that McCartney’s uke version for “Something”… and then suddenly Clapton goes wild with his Stratocaster?). So… I had the rare opportunity to buy a cute “Cordoba” mahogany model on that trip. Later, when I was well adapted to the chords, I bought myself an electric Lanikai (recommended by sweet Lou Armer) to play live. Things are slowly getting better, but it still hard to find good ukes here in Brazil.
It seems like a lot of the focus on Brazil is centered around Rio and Sao Paulo. What’s the music scene like elsewhere in Brazil?
I believe it’s everywhere. Our new artistic output is getting bigger with the internet thing, of course. There are many acts being nominated and playing worldwide because of the free sharing of information. You see, plenty of them were not necessarily raised in Rio or São Paulo. I have a special feeling for the northeast scene, for example, which stands out with “Nação Zumbi”, “Otto”, “Cidadão Instigado”, “3 na Massa”, “China”, “Lulina”, etc.
What are your plans for the future? With the band and with your solo music.
The band is back on the road, promoting the album we’ve just released. It can be downloaded for free on Facebook, and it’s a good thing to do right now that “Oração” is no longer “fresh meat”. My solo project is running damn great this month. I’m producing its debut album with the co production of John Ulhoa (Pato Fu member) who already worked with my early band “Poléxia” and with huge Brazilian artists like Arnaldo Baptista (Mutantes) and Zélia Duncan.
There’s another project (I’m never tired of…) sung in english. It’s called “Naked Girls and Aeroplanes” and we’re putting out a virtual EP in a few weeks. People can listen to it on Soundcloud.
Follow A Banda Mais Bonita da Cidade and Rodrigo on YouTube.
