If you told me I would have spent an entire day voluntarily listening to ukulele music, I would have called you crazy. I always lumped ukulele in the same category with kazoos and accordions. A novelty act, fine for a laugh, acceptable when accompanying certain kinds of ethnic music, but otherwise unlistenable. These two groups of musicians, however, have made a convert of me. Their arrangements and spare use of mashups are often clever, frequently lovely, and uniformly entertaining.

Behold the dual wonders that are the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and The United Kingdom Ukulele Orchestra. A ukulele orchestra sounds like a punchline, but the music of both orchestras are surprisingly deep and deft. I am grateful that fellow blogger Judy Robinson (of Judy Robinson Design) straightened me out that these are two different groups. UOGB has been around for 30 years, and TUKUO has only been around for 6. Sorry, Judy, I’m sure you’d think more of me were I a purist, but since I discovered both at the same time, I am in love with them both.

No matter how skeptical you are, please promise me you’ll at least listen to the first one. It’s got all kinds of surprises! Honestly, this is one of my top 5 music finds of all time. Hope you’re as in love as I am!

And of course, since I have now devoured their entire oeuvre, I had to include a few more of my faves, first from UOGB:

And here are a couple of solid contenders from TUKUO: