The ukulele is back, baby!
About 18 months ago I saw the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra bring a crowd to their feet with their passion for ukuleles - and so my love for this oft-forgotten instrument was ignited.
So much so, in fact, I forked out about $80 for one at Christmas so I could pretend - just for a few minutes, mind - that I have some musical talent.
Okay, it turns out that I can just about hold a tune on the uke - but my singing is so bad that it drowns out any hope of sweet, sweet music.
But thankfully there are WAY more talented musicians out there who have discovered the uke and are putting it to fantastic use - both in front of a live audience as well as on the internet - particularly YouTube and MySpace.
Back to the first lot I mentioned - the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra. I enjoyed seeing them for the first time so much that they were second only to Neil Young when it came to this year's Big Day Out.
And they didn't let me down - with covers of Kings of Leon, Prince, Crowded House and The Killers among the highlights.
To show you just how talented they are, here's a particularly great version of the aforementioned Kings of Leon's 'The Bucket':
Since then I've been scouring the internet for the very best in uke music in a desire to spread the message that the uke is back, baby!
The best, bar none, is the relatively unknown Julia Nunes.
Her quirky cover versions of classic songs show more talent than any of the boy bands in circulation and her own stuff is pretty good as well. Her cover of 'Build Me Up, Buttercup' has been viewed more than a million times on YouTube.
She's now released a couple of albums, appeared on stage with Ben Folds and is due to appear at the Bonnaroo music festival this week. That's a pretty fantastic accomplishment for someone who started out by uploading videos of herself to YouTube.
If The Foundations aren't quite your cup of tea, you could always watch her fabulous cover of The Killers' 'Mr Brightside' instead.
The second is a group called Uke Box Heroes. One of the pair, Miracle Laurie, starred in Joss Whedon's new television series Dollhouse. Okay, I admit, I only found Uke Box Heroes because I did a google search on the lovely Miss Laurie. Don't judge me!
Their MySpace page offers up seven songs so you can get a taster for their music. The cover version of Glen Hansard's 'Falling Slowly' is excellent, but it's their version of 'Moondance' by another Irishman, Van Morrison, which is the highlight.
Bear in mind these may not be recorded in a flash recording studio, so the sound isn't quite top level.
The third (and final) artist is Amanda Palmer, lead singer of the Dresden Dolls. She's been showing up with a uke hidden behind her back at recent gigs and covering Radiohead's 'Creep' - and it makes for interesting listening.
She does the full version of 'Creep' so bear in mind that certain words in the song aren't safe for work!
So what do you think? Do you like the ukulele? And do you have a favourite uke artist you want to recommend? Let me know what you think.
or the new generation - Jake Shimabukuro
for REAL ukulele music!
Uke's are, have always been, and always will be COOL!
he plays a song called "robins song"