Langley Ukulele Ensemble

Damon and I just got back from a concert by the Langley Ukulele Ensemble from Langley, BC, Canada. Yes, we went to a ukulele concert. Believe it or not, it was amazing!

The group, made up of 20 ukulele players aged 12-20 (plus the leader, who is actually the 20th player, plus a bass player), opened with "The William Tell Overture" and then went on to play songs on the theme: "If so-and-so had known about the ukulele, this is how [insert song here] would have sounded..." They played "Johnny B. Good" by Chuck Barry, "Help" by the Beatles, "Surfin' USA" by the Beach Boys, "The Washington Post" by John Philip Sousa, and more.

The group leader was quite a ham and they had tiny bits of choreography built in that always gave us a chuckle. It was very entertaining. There was also singing with most of the songs, which just made the musical ability of these kids more impressive.

After intermission, they came back to really show us that the ukulele (pronounced ooh-koo-lay-lay, we learned) is a legitimate instrument. By this point, I did not need to be convinced, but was nevertheless further wowed by Mozart's "Turkish Rondo," Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," Tchaikovsky's "Russian Dance," and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee." There was also a bit of traditional Hawaiian music and a Portuguese song where they actually crossed hands and played one hand on their own instrument and one on their neighbors'! And then they switched and did it with the other hand!

As we exited the auditorium we spoke to one of the players. Damon asked how much they practice each week. She said that they spend two hours each week practicing together. Two hours--that's all! The ukulele is actually taught in the elementary schools in Langley (like our recorders here?) and there are 6 younger groups that gradually train them and funnel them into the traveling ensemble that we saw tonight.

What a treat! Check it out at http://www.langleyukes.com/ or do a search on YouTube. I couldn't decide which video to post (and I haven't learned how to do that yet, either)!