uke

The Ukes' ongoing "hand-luggage only" world tour promises pure entertainment, dead-pan British humour and irresistible foottapping music.

Groups and solo acts from elementary to high school from Lane County played at the eighth annual Uke Jam.

Colwyn Bay Ukulele Group (CBUG) is staging Uke-A-Bay Weekend to put the town -and the uke - on the map.

The chances are that you will never think about traditional folk in the same way once you've been exposed to the Ukes' unusual take on the Sharp songbook.

John Lennon learned to play banjo before guitar and was heard to declare the Formby catch-phrase "Turned out nice again!" The uke and banjo were working class instruments, small, compact and portable, upon which it was reasonably easy to bash out a tune, well before guitars and rock and roll.

In August the Ukes proved just that when they made their first visit to the BBC Proms and invited other ukelele players to join them at the Royal Albert Hall for a mass rendition of Beethoven's Ode To Joy.

I am learning to play the uke and this was a masterclass.

The Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle is showing a film called The Mighty Uke which documents the history of the ukulele and how it has made a comeback lately.

MC and uke impresario Rich Leufstedt will show you how on the first set, then the mic is all yours.

It's cool to play the uke, which has now taken over from the recorder as the musical instrument children most want to play in schools.

The yoga portion of the class is taught first, then comes the uke strumming.

Like learning a few chords on a ukulele, the Ukes for Kids program is pretty simple.