Dulwich OnView

Anna Sayburn meets the Dulwich Ukulele Club, who play the Dulwich Festival in May and at the Dulwich Picture Gallery LATE in June.

My musical career started and ended with grade 1 recorder, aged seven (failed). So when I unwrapped a ukulele one recent Christmas morning, I was sceptical.

To my surprise, it is possible to get a tune out of this deeply cute baby guitar without any noticeable musical ability. It’s quite hard to make it sound as horrible as a recorder (although friends who’ve heard me thrashing my way through Anarchy in the UK after a little too much Christmas spirit might disagree).

Even more surprisingly, the ukulele is currently having a moment. And our very own Dulwich Ukulele Club is right at the heart of it. I caught up with seven of the DUC during rehearsals at the East Dulwich house of the band’s founder, Richard.

Richard acquired his first instrument after a rather boozy lunch. ‘As we were walking back I saw this 200-quid uke in a shop window. Alcohol kicked in and I bought it.’ He then hid it at work, unsure how to explain the purchase to his wife. Eventually, he taught himself to play and encouraged friends to pick up this most engaging of instruments. Fast forward a few years, and the band is a 11-piece with bookings at the Festival Hall’s Meltdown, Port Eliot Literary Festival and the Isle of Wight Bestival, among others.

The band writes its own songs, mainly thrashed out collectively during rehearsals. According to Matt, ‘Richard comes with ideas or a general theme, then we rehearse.’ ‘Then Nina always says it’s too long,’ comments Richard. ‘It always is too long,’ Nina retorts. It’s clearly a collaborative process.

When I dropped by Richard’s big kitchen, the band was working on an upbeat, sunny track called Another Summer in Lewisham. A previous favourite is I Can’t Go Back To Camberwell. But it’s not all London-centric. Frenzied uke-playing is perfectly suited to the Latin-flavoured Tijuana, with its tale of doomed romance.

Most of the band members are local, and they play for fun. Several confided that ‘it can start to take over your life’. A point which came home as the band paused to discuss their summer schedule for July – could they be at the National Theatre on Saturday and on Brighton Pier Sunday morning? ‘It does mean the whole weekend is ukulele…’ pointed out Tanya.

The ukulele is not the only unusual instrument in the band. Percussionist Zed explained the story behind his box-like drum, known as a cajon. Cajon is Spanish for drawer or chest. Zed explains that the instrument was first developed by African workers in south America, using Portuguese fish boxes as improvised drums. The cajon has been taken up by Spanish flamenco bands, and Zed says goes particularly well with the ukulele sound.

In fact, unusual instruments are becoming de rigour in Dulwich. Members of the DUC can be found once a month fronting the open-access Dulwich Jug Band, open to any instruments and players (except guitars). The band writes and rehearses a new song each time.

‘Last time we had three violins, a mandolin, electric saw, kazoo, lots of percussion and a load of ukes,’ said Richard. I’m taking mine along to the next Jug Band night – see you there?

Dulwich Ukulele Club plays the Dulwich Festival on Saturday 17 May at the Plough, Lordship Lane, 8pm.
Find more information about the Dulwich Festival online.
The Dulwich Jug Band meets at the Plough on the first Wednesday of the month.
Dulwich Ukulele Club plays Dulwich Picture Gallery LATE on Thursday 19 June.
To find out more about the DUC, see their MySpace page.