… but, this time, some one did ask me to play! Even better, it was at a Prom Concert.
It’s pick up a plectrum time at the Proms as the wonderful Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain invite you to join in their performance in the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday 18 August. They will be performing loads of favourites including, of course, The Dam Busters theme, and you yourself can play along (if you have a ukulele) in an audience participation rendition of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. The whole thing will be live on Radio 3 if you aren’t able to get to the Albert Hall on the night.
You can see the Orchestra’s version of The Dam Busters here, in a Youtube video recorded at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival. (It’s about 06.55 minutes in after Pinball Wizard and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.)
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
Plink, plink, plink, plink, plinka, plink, plink, plink…
I met the late Sir Bill Cotton of the BBC once, many years ago – he was a lovely, funny man, much loved by all. This was evidenced by the huge turnout at his memorial service earlier this week, where there apparently was much mirth amongst the tributes. The report in The Times that some of the music was provided by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain playing, amongst other ditties, a version of the Dambusters March arranged by Bill Cotton’s namesake and father, set me off on a search on Youtube. Unfortunately this performance doesn’t seem yet to have been videoed (although I did find both Shaft and Teenage Kicks) so I ended up at the orchestra’s own website, where I was able to purchase the Eric Coates tune for a meagre one pound. A bargain! Altogether now – plink, plink…
UPDATE: Here’s a sample, about 20 seconds long, of the Dambusters March.
Dambusters Blog 