A collision of post-punk performance and toe-tapping oldies. See the universe in the grain of a Ukulele. You may never think about music in the same way once you've been exposed to the Ukes' depraved musicology. The Orchestra use the limitations of the instrument to create a musical freedom with Ukuleles, (little ones, big ones, high ones, low ones) revealing unsuspected insights into popular music. From Tchaikovsky to Nirvana via Otis Reading, the Orchestra takes you on a world tour with only hand luggage and gives the listener "One Plucking Thing After Another".

The Ukulele Orchestra started as a bit of fun in 1985. The first gig, intended as a one-off, was a sell out, and after one more gig the Orchestra had been on national radio. Since then there have been hundreds of appearances on radio and TV worldwide including BBC's ‘Electric Proms' as special guests of the Kaiser Chiefs, 'Jools Holland Hootenanny', 'Blue Peter', Radio 4's ‘Loose Ends', Radio 3's ‘In Tune', C-Beebies ‘Space Pirates' and ‘The Slammer', NeverMind the Buzzcock's Christmas special, Virgin.fm, Resonance.fm, ‘Today', ‘Richard and Judy', XFM, and ITV's ‘This Morning Show', 3Sat.TV - Germany's premier cultural station.

There have been sold out concerts in America, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Ireland and Japan, in venues as diverse as Ronnie Scott's world famous London jazz club, The Royal Festival Hall, Glastonbury Festival, Chicago Chamber Music Festival, The Big Chill, Cropredy, and the Edinburgh Festival.

The Orchestra has rhythm, bass, baritone, tenor, soprano and lead Ukulele players, creating a rich palate of orchestration possibilities and registers. Sitting shoulder to shoulder in a semi-circle, they dress in formal evening wear like a symphony orchestra, reworking classics of rock 'n' roll, punk, jazz and classical music. In highlighting both the beauty and vacuity of the material, the Orchestra revel in the triviality and the self-reverence of popular and highbrow music, while being both serious and light-hearted. Sometimes a foolish song can move an audience more than high art. Audiences like to have a good time with the Ukulele Orchestra, which shows that musical intelligence and levity are not incompatible with acoustic versions of heavy metal, performance art techniques and the homage of a live karaoke.

This raggle taggle group of disparate performers from widely different backgrounds is an incongruous assemblage of misfits. Could it be that this entertainment tribe, this anthropological phenomenon, has sidestepped the 20th century problems of art and walked into a new form, like Delphic Oracles on Stars in Their Eyes?