The Ukelele Orchestra of Gt Britain-"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" by Ennio Morricone
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (UOGB) is a musical ensemble featuring ukuleles in different registers and a bass ukulele (actually an acoustic bass guitar).
The orchestra has since performed in many worldwide venues, including the Royal Festival Hall, Glastonbury Festival and Carnegie Hall. The Orchestra has appeared on TV in the UK and elsewhere.
Repertoire range Members were commissioned to write and record music for two editions of The South Bank Show and the orchestra has featured on Tomorrow’s World, Blue Peter, The Slammer, Richard & Judy and This Morning and other shows on UK TV.
Albums include Precious Little, The Secret of Life, Top Notch and a large back catalogue of recordings including a 2005 DVD, Anarchy in the Ukulele, recorded at the Barbican in London.
Their version of “Dy-na-mi-tee” (with vocals by Hester Goodman), reached 81 in the UK singles charts in 2005. Also featured on the CD single were covers of the instrumental “Wonderful Land”, and of “Natural Woman”, the latter with (male) lead vocals provided by musical director George Hinchliffe.
PerformancesThe orchestra has toured Canada, Japan, the USA and several countries in Europe.
Recent years have seen television appearances on programmes such as Jools Holland’s Hootenanny. High praise has been forthcoming from the press for live shows. In 2008, the group performed in Dreamspiel composed by George Hinchliffe for the Grimeborn Festival at London’s Arcola Theatre. The orchestra performed at the 50 year anniversary VE day celebrations in Hyde Park (with Cliff Richard and Vera Lynn), before an estimated audience of 170,000.
On Tuesday the 18th of August, 2009 the UOGB performed in a late night prom in the BBC Proms 2009 Season at the Royal Albert Hall. The performance was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and received much critical acclaim. As well as this, the concert hosted what is thought to be the world record for the largest number of ukulele players playing with each other at once, at least 992 players participated in a version of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. A DVD of the performance – Prom Night – is available via the UOGB website.
The UOGB have also appeared in the UK television show Skins. ( From Wikipedia)
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