www.ukuleleland.org

AUSTRALIAN UKULELE RESEARCH PROJECT

I am currently collecting stories to put into a book about the Australian ukulele scene. If anyone has any stories they wish to share about past or present ukulele players, please contact me.

posted by Rose Turtle Ertler  # 9:14 PM

UKULELE LAND - THE CONCERTS

Ukulele Land is also a concert featuring as many ukulele players as I can get in one location. So far, there have been three concerts all held in Sydney from 2004-2006. Stay tuned for information on the next Sydney Ukulele Land.

posted by Rose Turtle Ertler  # 7:59 PM

UKULELE RESEARCH - WOLLONGONG TO CAIRNS (with a few gaps)

I wrote this article for folk music mag TRAD & NOW. It tells about some of the ukulele adventures I had between Wollongong and Cairns this winter 2007.

UKULELE LAND – Rose Ertler : Printed in TRAD & NOW August 2007 edition :

I am currently travelling up and down the east coast from Wollongong to Cairns (with a few gaps here and there) performing my solo ukulele act. I play mostly acoustic, but sometimes I extend the aural repertoire of the little Hawaiian instrument by playing through a multi-effects pedal. I am not so interested in playing the novelty songs that the ukulele is often known for, but prefer to write kind of 'wonky folk/pop' songs. I guess I am trying to demonstrate that the ukulele is a versatile instrument and definitely not an object to thoughtlessly toss in the toy box.
On my travels, I am also hunting high and low for ukulele comrades who have also been touched by the endearing qualities of the unpretentious instrument, collecting stories and photos. I’m not sure where my research will lead. It may be a book or perhaps a yearly journal. I’ll decide that once I’ve collected more material.

Below is a list of the locations I have visited in the last month and the ukulele encounters I have had.
1 Wollongong : The only player I found in Wollongong is Nick Rheinberger who is best known for his role as morning presenter on ABC Illawarra local radio. Nick and I played on the same bill for the Illawarra Folk Club, where I got to hear his entertaining and clever uke ditties with a bit of Jimi Hendrix's Foxy Lady thrown in for extra laughs. He also showed off his beautiful sounding charango. The audience seemed delighted and intrigued to see the face of that voice the greets them daily on the airwaves.
2 Thirroul : One of the newest in the wave of ukulele clubs starting up in the country is in Thirroul about 30kms north of Wollongong . They've only had one meeting so far, where thirty two enthusiasts attended on a freezing night when a cyclone was forecast. Dedication, for sure. I didn't get to visit, but will pop in for their September meeting.
3 Sydney : The last few years has seen two clubs start up in Sydney, first SSCUM (Sutherland and St George College Ukulele Members), follwed by BUK (Balmain Ukulele Club). I haven’t been to SSCUM yet, but have visited BUK’s friendly atmosphere a couple of times last year. Hoola, the in house Hawaiian style band featuring Jenny on uke, usually play a set, followed by a ukulele lesson and then any special guests. There is sometimes a theme for the night – last month was Beatles night.
As well as the clubs, Sydney is home for some great ukulele players.
During this visit, I was support act for Mic Conway and his National Junk Band, featuring Mic on his left handed resonator tenor guitar (tuned as a ukulele) and Phil Donnison on resonator uke. Phil (AKA Ukuphilele) also plays uke in has band the Jugalug Stringband. That night, special guest from Byron, the world renowned Azo Bell added a third ukulele to the lineup.
I’ve organized three Ukulele Land concerts in Sydney in the last few years, and each time the bill is getting bigger and better. Some highlight acts are Cameron Murray who has a great strumming style, playing George Formby and ‘hapa haole’ tunes; Pura Pura, an eight piece Cook Islander band with a few ukuleles in the lineup who play traditional islander music with electric guitar and sequenced drums thrown in; and Charles Altmann, an eighty two year man, also with a great strumming style who has only started performing in the last couple of years.
This time in Sydney, Charles and I visited ninety year old Maurice Freeman for the first time. We had had brief email contact for a couple of years and I’d heard of his collection of vintage ukes that he was selling off. He had only about seven left, which Charles and I excitedly strummed through. Maurice is very youthful for his age, although unfortunately his eyesight is starting to fail him. He had lots of great stories and played some of his favourite uke songs that he’d downloaded from the internet, including a love song from an US player (who’s name I didn’t catch) with the chorus singing ‘You’re so fucking beautiful’. (He warned us about the language first!)
I ended up buying one of his ukes, a Royal Hawaiian from the ‘30s made of koa wood. I had no intention of expanding my collection, but it had such an alive sound, I couldn’t resist. So I decided to forego food for a month and happily handed over $450.
4 Newcastle : Luthier Bruce White emailed me a few months back to let me know about the ukuleles that he makes out of palm fronds. I finally got to meet him at a gig I was doing at the Lass O'Gowrie, when he arrived with three ukuleles he had made for me. Wow, what a generous gift. The bodies are constructed out of a palm fronds harvested from the Cocos palm trees that are on his property at Salt Ash, just north of Newcastle. Necks and bridges are made from well chosen scraps of wood with new or salvaged machine heads attached. It was all a bit of a rush that night as I was about to perform, but the next day I sat on the Newcastle waterfront and gave them all a good play. One has normal uke tuning, but an octave lower, one was tuned like a baritone and the third was an experiment in making a small slide uke. The tone of them is very mellow and at first they feel a bit awkward because of their slightly eccentric shape. The chunky square neck on one of them, continues to the bridge, which is strange for the left hand and also provides a little odd ledge for the right hand to rest on. It will just take a bit of getting used to, I’m sure. They are fun instruments to play and I’m looking forward to doing some recording with them.
The only other uke player in the Newcastle vicinity, is Su, a friend of my last neighbour in Melbourne, who is predominantly a fiddle player but also competent on the uke. She was due to play at last year's Ukulele Land concert in Sydney, but broke down on the highway, so didn't make it! And there was also a leather jacketed young man who approached me after my gig and asked for advice on putting a pick up on his Mahalo flying V. He’d already asked in music shops where he had been told not to bother. So I was happy to say, just buy a cheap pick up and stick it on. (Surely a bit of feedback will suit a flying V!)
5 Armidale – Unfortunately I didn't get to meet any ukulele players in Armidale, but I did get one response when the local newspaper ran a story about my research. Glenn Manion is the uke player for local jug band, The Jug Addicts. I was hoping to meet him, but it didn’t eventuate. Next time.
6 Bellingen – I arrived in Bellingen at 10:30 on a Saturday morning, just in time to catch the end of BUG's rehearsal. The Bellingen ukulele group has been meeting weekly for a few months in Heritage Music shop – a cosy little shop run by Vic who is also the BUG headman. The group, with about a dozen smiling players, was working on arrangements of songs. They’ve performed a few times already, always with a lap steel player.
I was well looked after by Vic and his wife Katie who live in the back of the shop. Vic opened his shop just eleven months ago, after working in a music shop in San Francisco for twelve years where acoustic concerts were regularly held. Vic sells just fine quality acoustic instruments including a range of 'Heritage' ukuleles. These are crafted by Lindsay, a guitar luthier and mate of Vic's, who's based in Monavale, Sydney. Vic is also a fine ukulele player, writing beautiful songs with an Appalachian, American folk style feel to them. He does great picking patterns, one I particularly noticed , where he uses the open C string as a repetitive drone string.
I performed that evening, totally acoustic, in the shop with a packed house of thirty – a very special show.
7 Kuranda – Kuranda based couple Dan (originally from Melbourne) and Yuki (from Japan) were watching a 1920’s cartoon Bosko and Honey once on DVD, when they noticed the similarities between their relationship and that of the animated couple. They were even making the same jokes, but ninety years earlier! In one episode, Bosko presented Honey with a ukulele for her birthday, which prompted Dan to do the same for Yuki on her 28th celebration. Two years later, both are confidently wielding ukuleles and performing under the name of ‘Bosko and Honey’ playing a repertoire of eclectic nostalgia tunes. They were even special guest performers at the NY Uke Fest earlier this year.
I performed on the same bill with them at the amazing Tanks Art Centre in Cairns. Bosko started with an instrumental flamenco-inspired solo, Honey soon joining him with her solid and confident strumming. I was amazed to learn that Yuki had never picked up an instrument before. They did a great show and I was lucky to have them join me for my last song.
8 Byron Bay – I am currently in Byron, staying at the bush girt house of Azo Bell, the jazz/blues inspired master of the ukulele. There are three ukes on the table and Azo is deciding whether to play the old Martin that he’s just fixed up or his regular Royal uke for a gig with the Old Spice Boys tomorrow night. Azo write his own tunes, lots being instrumental with amazing fast strumming and jazzy melodies. He originally started playing the ukulele after he was inspired in South America by the local players of the cavaquinho, a cousin to the uke.

This time round I’m going to miss out on the monthly meeting of the North Coast Ukulele Collective, the largest ukulele clubin Australia with over a hundred enthusiastic strummers led by Californian Dan Roman. I’m sure they’ll still be going strong next time I pass through.

I've got another two months of travelling around before I return to Melbourne. In this time I will get to visit ukulele groups BUMS! ( Brisbane); the Thirroul ukulele group (near Wollongong) and BUK (Balmain, Sydney). I will be teaching workshops to Circus WOW (Bellambi, near Wollongong); CHUG (The Channon Ukulele Group); in a music shop in Woy Woy and to members of the Byron club. I will be lucky enough to do gigs with fellow ukers Tyrone Shoelaces and Phil from Chucknee (in Brisbane), the Old Spice Boys featuring Azo Bell at the Byron Vista Social Club, as well as playing with 82 year old Charles Altmann at a nursing home in Manly. I am also hoping to meet an 80 year old player at Lake Macquarie and a much younger player in Maleny as well as stay in Uki (near Byron) with Bob and Mitzi and their eight kids, five of whom make up the Perch Creek Family Jug Band. Unfortunately, Bob hasn't quite finished his ukulele that he's constructed out of matchsticks glued together. I’ll just have to wait for that one! THE END

posted by Rose Turtle Ertler  # 7:21 PM