The premiere of a new concert called When This Lousy War Is Over is being staged next month to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.
Specially commissioned by Birmingham Town Hall & Symphony Hall, it will have two performances on Remembrance Sunday, November 9, before a London premiere the following day.
And the two-hour show will be played entirely on ukuleles.
George Hinchcliffe, the founding director of back in 1985, has been researching the music of the period to offer an internationalist, pacifist perspective on the war.
It was a time when war made life so unbearably hard that some people just had to laugh, and sing鈥 and play the ukulele.
鈥淢any of the 20 songs in the concert are about the First World War, but although the term has only been used recently, it is also about world music of the day,鈥 says George.
鈥淚 think people will find the show funny, interesting, thought provoking, entertaining... and touching.
鈥淎ll you can do with something new is to run it up the flagpole and see if it people will salute it, but I think they will.
鈥淲hen the audience leaves, I think they鈥檒l say 鈥榯hat was entertaining but I also learned something new about the period鈥.鈥
As well as songs from the trenches and well known ditties of the day, the performance will also include lesser-known tunes brought over by soldiers from China, India and Africa, along with political and pacifist songs of the time.
George鈥檚 research into the pre-war origins of songs like Has Anybody Seen A German Band? has been helped by the fact that many of his orchestra鈥檚 120 concerts per year are abroad.
Members of his team have also researched their own family histories.
鈥淭here are eight people in the orchestra at any one time from ten of us, with another five working in the office and so on.
鈥淪o that鈥檚 15 of us relying on the orchestra to pay the bills.
鈥淚t鈥檚 wonderful that this piece has been commission by THSH.
鈥淭he Birmingham concerts might be recorded for archive purposes, but we hope to be playing it for four years and to be able to take it to countries from Sweden to China, where we played earlier this month.鈥
One of the pieces in When This Lousy War Is Over will be by George Butterworth 鈥 who set the poems of AE Houseman to music before being killed at the age of just 31 during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.
鈥淗e was a very promising composer whose work The Banks of Green Willow is for the one minute鈥檚 silence,鈥 says George. 鈥淚t would not be a good idea if we avoided that.鈥
George notes how 27 countries 鈥 many from the Commonwealth 鈥 were involved in the First World War.
鈥淏ut even during that period, the West End was full of music,鈥 he says.
鈥淭he (1960s鈥) show Oh What a Lovely War came from the (1917) song Oh It鈥檚 a Lovely War, a cynical song about what it鈥檚 like to be up to your neck in mud in Flanders.
鈥淥ther issues at the time included the right for women to vote. Women were divided 鈥 some supported the war, others didn鈥檛.鈥
While many people think of George Formby (1904-1961) in association with the instrument, what they often don鈥檛 realise is that he started out as a tribute act to his father (born James Lawler Booth, 1875-1921) whose own music hall stage name was George Formby (Snr).
The instrument itself has origins with Portuguese people who went to Hawaii. A 1915 trade fare in San Francisco helped to popularise it.
For many members of the orchestra, the ukulele is actually their first instrument, not a second.
In George Hinchcliffe鈥檚 case, for example, he has returned to it via learning the piano, violin, viola, double bass and even playing the organ in a soul band.
Its simplicity, universality, ease of transport and low cost means that the second a show ends he can now 鈥樷榮tart talking to people instead of packing up for hours鈥欌.
George, who was seven but already fully aware of who George Formby was when he died in 1961, has around 50 ukuleles at home which cost from 拢25 upwards.
But the one he plays the most is worth around 拢100.
Another, made from koa wood a century ago, is the 鈥樷楽tradivarius of ukuleles鈥欌 in as much as it was made by the original Diaz factory in Hawaii.
鈥淢any people come to the ukulele later in life because it鈥檚 cheap and relatively easy to play?鈥 says George.
鈥淗aving a more expensive instrument is not what it鈥檚 about. If you can make a tune out of a reasonable but not terribly expensive instrument 鈥 most needn鈥檛 cost more than 拢200 鈥 that shows the point of it. If you give someone a 拢10,000 instrument, anyone can sound good playing one note, but then you have to ask 鈥榃hat is the music that you are playing?鈥.鈥
The orchestra鈥檚 website is endorsed with a quote from David Bowie saying 鈥樷榃onderfully clever鈥欌, while a New York Times reviewer noted how 鈥淭hey extract more than seems humanly possible from so small and so modest an instrument鈥欌.
Over the years they have been associated with artists from Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) to Madness and the Kaiser Chiefs, but George will never forget the day they had a surprise guest.
And, you鈥檝e guessed it, , George Formby Jnr and Snr and George Butterworth, the visitor was, inevitably, yet another George.
鈥淭he Beatles鈥 George Harrison came to see us and to play a couple of songs in about 1989,鈥 he recalls.
鈥淗e was a member of The George Formby Society and loved the ukulele so much he always carried a couple in the boot of his car.
鈥淗e gave me his phone number, using the name Jack Transport.
鈥淲hat you find with famous and talented people is how nice they are. It鈥檚 the second-rate who end up becoming awkward customers. George was really nice and straightforward. He was a very pleasant guy who talked to everybody.鈥
* The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain 鈥 When This Lousy War Is Over plays at the Town Hall at 3pm and 7pm on Remembrance Sunday, November 9, 2014. Tickets are 拢19.50 plus transaction fee from
