Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, Poole Lighthouse (From Daily Echo)

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, Poole Lighthouse

9:45am Monday 10th October 2011 in Music Reviews By Andy Nicholls

TAKE eight clever, skilled musicians, a selection of Hawaiian-stringed instruments, and 80 flexible fingers and thumbs.

Add a generous dash of humour, stir in some nostalgia, sprinkle with self-deprecation and cook for a couple of hours.

That’s the winning recipe for the Ukes, who have done more to popularise the humble ukulele than anyone since George Formby.

The line-up of six men and two women has been together now for more than 20 years, and it shows. Since I first saw them perform several years ago, they have become tighter, improved vocally and progressed from playing small venues to big concert halls and theatres, winning fans wherever they go.

The audience at Lighthouse ranged from small children – many clutching the spread tub ukes they had made in workshops earlier in the day – to people in their nineties.

The grannies and small children may not have recognised some of the songs, but all could enjoy such subversions as an acapella Pinball Wizard sung as a sea shanty, or the mash-up of Life on Mars with Substitute, My Way and Born Free.

For people of a certain age, there could be only one reaction to the slowed down version of the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy in the UK: to sit there with a big soppy grin on one’s face.

And an encore with a rousing Russian-style version of Formby’s Leaning on the Lamp Post, ukuleles sounding like balalaikas, sent everyone home still smiling.