Playing a Different Tune: Ukelele has been flying off the shelves of music stores since pandemic hit — here’s why

A ukelele has 4 strings, whereas a mean guitar has six. its fretboard and frets are additionally a lot smaller

By Barkha Kumari

Ask anyone which musical instrument they wish to study and likelihood is they’ll say the guitar. Hanging on the shoulder leisurely or wedged between the fingers like a rockstar, the guitar by no means fails to chop a cool image. And only a strum is sufficient to get listeners grooving.

Sure, we get the craze. Nonetheless, the pandemic has thrown up one other favorite. Pattern this: Shivani Vijay, a 24-year-old from Bengaluru, can’t get sufficient of her ukelele — it appears like an acoustic guitar, albeit smaller. She purchased it final September after quitting her IT job to pursue a interest she had lengthy nursed. In a month, she taught herself to play the laidback Kho gaye hum kahaan, adopted by the whimsical Tum jab paas aati ho and the pensive Agar tum saath ho. Her mom likes to playback the basic Ajeeb daastan hai generally when Vijay performs the ukelele. Identified for its heat, nimble, lilting sounds, the Hawaiian instrument has introduced Vijay a lot cheer in these gloomy instances.

“Most of my associates in school may play the guitar and I additionally wished to study it, however discovered it intimidating. As for the ukelele, it’s like a guitar, however smaller and fewer intimidating. I learnt to play it by watching on-line tutorials and, seven months on, I’m able to put money into a guitar. Because of my ukelele, I’ve a good grip on the strings now,” shares Vijay, who’s presently self-employed.

Like Vijay, many individuals, together with singer Shreya Ghoshal and actors Kalki Koechlin and Bhumi Pednekar, are more and more shopping for the ‘uke’ because the novel coronavirus despatched us indoors in March of 2020. Social media is abuzz with #ukelelecovers set to the ‘chota guitar’, because it’s loosely referred to as, and pictures of ukes decked in fairy lights. On-line music lessons have now added ukelele to their portfolio as properly. And regardless of the sluggish enterprise scene, the musical instrument is flying off the cabinets of Indian music shops greater than ever earlier than.

A mood-lifter

Vijay, who recovered from Covid-19 a month in the past, says, “Within the e-book I’m presently studying, Ladies Who Run With The Wolves, the writer says if you find yourself feeling misplaced, music is an efficient strategy to convey your self again to feeling higher. Possibly that’s why individuals are pursuing music within the pandemic.”

However why the ukelele? Chitransh Nilay Saxena, a 27-year-old techie from Uttar Pradesh who’s working within the Philippines, has his causes. “The sound of a ukelele is totally different from that of a guitar. The previous is soothing but peppy. Even unhappy songs sound upbeat on the ukelele. The guitar, however, has a extra rock and live performance vibe to it (sic),” explains the interest singer, who purchased his uke final August, 4 years after he acquired a guitar, however by no means acquired his approach round it. As we speak, he’s importing ukelele covers on Insta and has even completed a gig for associates over a video name.

Likewise, Nandini Yadav is doing what she couldn’t do on the guitar prior to now. She is finetuning the charming ballad Hey There Delilah on her uke of seven months. It’s a stressbuster for the sub-inspector who’s posted in Uttar Pradesh’s Basti district. It’s additionally an accomplishment. “My decision for 2020 was to study a musical instrument and I’ve completed it with the ukelele. It’s gentle and compact, so I carry it after I journey,” says the 28-year-old.

Chin2 Bhosle, a music educator at Furtados Faculty of Music, understands why individuals are having it simple with their uke. In truth, his 14-year-old daughter learnt to play 4 songs on the ukelele by herself through YouTube in three months after dodging the guitar. “A ukelele has 4 strings, whereas a mean guitar has six. Additionally, its fretboard and frets are a lot smaller, so not a lot finger gymnastics wanted,” he explains.

‘Gross sales throughout all ages’

Music retailer house owners affirm the uptick in ukelele gross sales by way of the pandemic. Whereas Reynold’s, which has three shops in Bengaluru, the music capital of India, noticed a twofold enhance in comparison with 2019, Dhanya Anish, operations supervisor of Thomsun Music Home throughout Bengaluru and Kochi, claims that the model bought out a consignment of not less than 500 ukeleles in a month’s time after the nationwide lockdown was lifted in Could final yr.

At Kadence, which has pan-India operations, the ukelele emerged to be the most-sold instrument of 2020, surpassing the nice ol’ guitar. “Although we introduced the ukelele to India across the begin of 2016, the gross sales have picked up solely now. They’re up by six-seven instances,” COO Yash Gupta informs.

The instrument has benefitted from the superstar help it has obtained on social media, together with from Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketer David Warner, Gupta says. Including to that record, Anurag Mukherjee, a music teacher in Hyderabad who has began providing ukelele lessons, says, “In India, its recognition might be credited to artists akin to Shirley Setia and Taba Chake.”

What’s additionally made it a go-to music instrument for hobbyists is {that a} fundamental ukelele comes for Rs 2,000, cheaper than guitars that begin at Rs 5,000. The music retailer representatives agree that whereas their ukeleles go as much as Rs 19,000 relying on the scale (21-30 inches) and wooden used within the physique, nearly all of gross sales occur within the Rs 2,000-Rs 2,500 vary.

When it comes to cities which can be scooping up ukes essentially the most, the names of Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Goa come up constantly. As for folks shopping for it, it’s largely college-goers above 20 and folks of their 30s. “Ladies appear to be shopping for it extra… perhaps as a result of it’s gentle,” shares Anish. There are outliers too. At Furtados, kids are lapping up the uke, whereas Kadence has seen folks of retirement age order these.

No matter be the explanation, Mukherjee is glad that the ukelele, which was launched in Hawaii within the late 1800s by the Portuguese, has come into its personal. “It belongs to the guitar household, however is a special instrument,” he says.

Saxena can’t wait to take it the place it belongs. “Each time I play the ukelele, I really feel transported to a seashore, sitting with my associates in a circle round a bonfire. I’d like to do it as soon as the pandemic is over,” he indicators off.

Barkha Kumari is a author and journalist