Report from the Summer Ukulele Meetup

It always feels good to write down my experiences after a ukulele meetup. Or rather, our experiences, because on the afternoon of August 11, 2020, around 25 ukulele players gathered together and we had a fantastic time making music! Thank you for the feedback I received afterwards in person, on Facebook and by email. From what you wrote, I think all of us had a great time during nearly three hours of strumming.

First of all, I would once again like to thank Fonó Budai Zeneházfor this wonderfully atmospheric venue, and the staff there, together with Ethnosound, for all their work and help with organizing and making the event happen. Special thanks go to Dorka (who alternated between playing and taking photos) and Karcsi, who captured this lovely afternoon in pictures and video.

A few minutes after 4 p.m., the first early birds with their ukuleles were already arriving, while we were still unpacking the instruments and setting up the sound system, which did not take long. At exactly five we got down to playing, using Zsolt's sheet music — quite literally — and tried to follow the melody and chords. Gradually, the performance began to come together . After that we started working through songs from the collection I had prepared. I was delighted that when I invited adventurous ukulele players — even complete beginners — up to the microphone to sing or play, you came forward willingly and bravely, and that is how we made music together. I also tried to give the beginners one or two basic pieces of information so that they could be active participants in the music-making too. I hope it worked .

First, let me show you the video put together by Dorka:

We put together lots of songs, and after trying a verse or two they sounded really good! My favorite was the famous theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I think our arrangement turned out sensationally well (thanks, Krisztián, for coming up to strum !). The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain can hide behind our performance — just watch:

We also played the most popular little Mexican tune:

And what better way to learn this incredibly rare chord, E minor major 7, than with Stevie Wonder's excellent song:

By the end you were understandably all tired, so we did not manage to fit in Sway. But I was very happy that the "surprise" part of the meetup worked, and thank you for helping with it! What happened? Here is a video, although the full story will remain a secret shared only by the participants :

And finally, the usual photo avalanche:

Photos and videos: Dorottya Imre and Károly Fehér