My grandfather had a ukulele. He also had a banjo, which I don’t recall him ever playing, but the ukulele was something he’d trot out occasionally, until my grandmother’s death when I was 9.
After that, the only time I heard the ukulele was when Tiny Tim would appear on TV singing “Tiptoe Through The Tulips,” and my parents, for reasons I could not begin to fathom at the time, seemed to disapprove mightily of this big guy and his little uke.
So I have had a fairly typical experience of the instrument: as something hopelessly old-fashioned, or as a novelty gimmick. It is old-fashioned, but that no longer bothers me – in fact, as a throwback to an era when people played music themselves instead of just passively listening to recordings of others playing, the ukulele stands for something timelessly cool.
The novelty thing, well, that’s a bit more of an issue. Not sure I really wanna hear 8 ukulelists plucking their way through the Nirvana songbook. Although somehow Amanda Palmer’s album of Radiohead covers, played on a single uke, avoids gimmickry and comes down on the side of cool.
What do you think of the revival of the ukulele? Leave a comment.
John Schaefer has hosted Soundcheck since the show’s inception in 2002. He has also hosted and produced WNYC’s radio series New Sounds since 1982 (“The No. 1 radio show for the Global Village” – Billboard) and the New Sounds Live concert series since 1986.
