Thursday, July 29, 2010

Gratis Uke Versus Libre Uke

Jeff Yang has a nice piece today in the San Francisco Chronicle on the intersection of the ukulele and digital culture. Link

4 comments:

Woodshed said...

Thanks for that, Gary. It had passed me by.

Do I have cloth ears or is there actually no ukulele in I'm Yours?

Craig said...

there's no ukulele in "I'm Yours".

Nice article about (again) Jake S.

Ron Hale said...

Was there any ukulele in the original Tip Toe Through the Tulips? I think not, but it is
considered a ukulele classic, nonetheless. I'm Yours is already a ukulele classic and must be considered as such in any updating of Jim Beloff's book.

The younger ukulele demographic bears no allegiance to Tin Pan Alley or the Hawaiian Islands, and is creating its own Ukulele Songbook. A run-through of YouTube will enlighten as to what ukers of the future will consider the classics of the instrument. And these classics will not include the staples of the older ukulele demographic such as 5 Foot 2, Tip Toe, Ain't She Sweet, Little Grass Shack, etc, but rather Build Me Up, Buttercup; Hey, Soul Sister; and similar others.

This process is already happening, being driven by sheer numbers. Reading ukulele blogs gives a misleading impression of what is happening in the real ukulele world. The real ukulele world consists of and is controlled by the same people who decide what movies get made, what TV shows stay on the air, i.e the young.

It's My Generation being turned against the very people who thought they were the bees knees when they blasted that song from their tinny record players and enjoyed annoying their parents and elders.

This My Generation generation isn't my generation and I suspect neither is it the generation of the large portion of those who read and comment on ukulele blogs (or who write the blogs).

We can play our little instruments oblivious to what is happening, but the massive sea-change underway in the ukulele world continues apace without asking for our acknowledgement or our approval.

Gary said...

Ron, I'm intrigued. Not sure I entirely get your point about uke blog not reflecting the real world. Since that's what we try to do (with a few editorial predjudices that I'll cop to), I'd like to understand your thoughts better.

 
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