The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain has clocked up 16 million minutes of playing together this month as they celebrate their 30-year anniversary.Formed in 1985, the sixteen handed musical ensemble are known for being “the group that spawned a thousand ukulele orchestras and inspired millions of players.” They have played sold-out concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and the Sydney Opera House (to name but a few) over the past three decades.Always dressing in appropriate orchestral attire (often with outfits completed by bow ties), the group is very much at the forefront of popular orchestras with mainstream audiences. Their performances always come with a good slice of British humor between numbers so it is unsurprising that the group has been welcomed onto “Jools Holland’s Hootenanny” along with the British prime-time television show “Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway” during recent years.The eight-piece ensemble’s mainstream success is no accident. The Ukulele Orchestra have moved out of the small folksy clubs and into the world’s top music halls by heavily embracing popular modern music. The string group have covered current hits like Lady GaGa’s “Born This Way” during their concerts and have been invited to collaborate with major musical artists.The orchestra’s live performance of their collaboration with Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) on the song “Peace train” has generated over 50,000 YouTube views and their 2007 special performance at the “Electric Proms” saw them accompany The Kaiser Chiefs on their hit song “Ruby.”They have successfully cast off connoted images of ukuleles being played whilst lounging on Hawaiian hammocks and instead have shown that the instrument is far more rock and roll. Their rendition of English punk-rock band, The Clash’s 80’s number 1 hit “Should I Stay or Should I Go” is a fine example of the musicians’ abilities to pluck with spunk, as well as displaying the relaxed gritty vocals of orchestral member Dave Suich or as the group bill him, “The member of the orchestra with the longest hair.”The UOGB have most certainly proved that 30 years is a good length of time in which to build a superb reputation for creating popular string music on miniature-guitar styled instruments. But they have come up against difficulties as a result of their talent too.At the end of last year, the orchestra, which had turned over a profit of £4m in the last five years, filed for an injunction against rival German-based, British-members group the “United Kingdom Ukulele Orchestra.” The injunction was filed ahead of the UKUO going on tour as there was a dispute between the two ukulele orchestra’s regarding a trademark infringement claim. The UOGB see the similarly-styled group as a “copy-cat” band that are trading off UOGB’s international success. A London judge denied the injunction and the rivalry is ongoing between the two.Despite the German-based rivals, and the many other ukulele groups to have emerged after being inspired by the work of the UOGB, the ensemble are still the most sought after ukulele players on the world's stage.Throughout June, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain will be commemorating 30 years of hard-work and success with a tour of their current concert “30 Plucking Years.”Tour dates include performances at Perth Concert Hall on June 14, York Grand Opera House on June 17, and Deal Festival June 27. For more information visit: www.ukuleleorchestra.com
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