Ukulele & Languages

Different countries,
Different cultures
one common language... the ukulele.

Archive for October, 2009

22 2009

Memoirs of a certain madman from Brazil on ukulele

It’s been a while since Ukulele & Languages last visited Latin America so it’s about time to find out what is going on there and share it with you over a few posts.

First stop is Brazil with a ukulele video recently uploaded by Marcelo, a cover of a song called Memórias de um certo Louco. The title meaning “Memoirs of a certain madman” puzzled me so I asked Marcelo, who kindly sent me detailed information about the song as well as its lyrics.

The song is a very obscure song from 1977, written by Tyto Livi. Some have said that the record onto which the song was published was one of the first records to have been published independently in Brazil. Legend has it that Tyto Livi sold his record door to door to make money to pay for his studies. Tyto Livi is from Chapecó, a very small city in the State of  Santa Catarina (state capital : Florianópolis), Brazil.

Read more ...

20 2009

Revise Geography with a ukulele

Alfred Williams has created a ukulele song which is in fact a revolutionary method to help you remember the shapes of the maps of several countries. If Geography was not your best subject, here is a chance to see it differently.

I am pretty certain that you have never thought about country maps in such a light.

The song is called Trinidad looks quite like Wales.

Read more ...

17 2009

Fingerstyle uke from around the world

Today I’m inviting you to a world tour of fingerstyle ukulele players from 9 different countries. You’ll be able to hear different styles of music interpreted by players from different horizons, showing the versatility of the ukulele.

1. United-States

Tim, from the United States is playing a version of Larry O’Gaff. The parts where the video is in color are from John King‘s version, and those where the video is in black and white are adapted from James Hill‘s version.

Read more ...

15 2009

Ukulele video from Brunei, in Malay

A new language to add to the Ukulele & Languages collection !

I got a very pleasant surprise today as a reader from far-away Brunei, a tiny country on the island of Borneo, bordered by the Malaysian state of Sarawak , contacted me to submit a ukulele song in Malay (Bahasa Melayu) dedicated to Ukulele & Languages.

The video is a cover of a song called Gadisku (My Girl) by Malaysian Rock band Search.  Elmi is playing the ukulele and Shasha is playing the bass. Greetings and thanks to the members of Brukulele in Brunei !

Read more ...

13 2009

Immersion, a film about Endangered Languages

One of the very positive aspects of writing a blog is that once in a while, one of your readers contacts you to share a web page or a video that he/she thinks I will enjoy.

Recently, Lou did exactly this and pointed me to a video I found so interesting, both artistically and content wise that I’d like to share it as well. A great many thanks to Lou for sharing this !

In the video, a short film written by Reina Yaidoo called Immersion, Lema impersonates an endangered language and explores its ambiguous feelings towards a dominant language, its doubts about its fate, its constant questioning … It is the kind of film that is so rich you can watch it several times and figure something new with each view.

Read more ...

Next Page »
« Previous Page