Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

When The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain began in 1985, public opinion was that an orchestra consisting entirely of ukuleles in different sizes was a strange concept. This was something that attracted the founders. From the beginning, the group’s modest goals were to have fun and “not to lose money.” Incredibly, throughout its thirty-year career, the group has succeeded in both. In Europe and America, the Orchestra are best known for playing versions of famous rock songs and film themes, sometimes changing these so that the expectations of the audience are subverted. Sometimes a rock song will be changed into a jazz idiom, or sometimes several songs which are known from different genres are combined in one “soup of contrasts.”