Ah the Ukulele! It’s not hard to wax poetic about this instrument for it has the unique power to evoke bittersweet nostalgia and happiness with just some strumming. A member of the lute family of instruments, it is usually a four-stringed guitar-like instrument whose inception is credited to the Portuguese immigrants in Hawaii. From there, it gained humongous popularity in the United States and soon took over the rest of the world. Such is the nature of this beautiful world that we live in, that this instrument now has virtuosos from all over the world and India certainly isn’t far behind.
For instance Arya Dhayal uploaded an incredibly unique fusion of ‘Radha Kaise na Jale’’ composed by A.R Rahman for the feature film ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Havana’ by Camilla Cabello supported by, you guessed it: the ukulele. The seamlessness with which Arya’s voice transitioned from indian to western was nothing short of astonishing. Many worlds collided to create this piece of art and if you haven’t opened another tab to watch it at this very instant, you might be missing out!
Bringing us a cover of the song ‘Tujhko jo paaya’ from the movie ‘Crook’ is Parbani Sinha. In only a minute and nineteen seconds she has shown her mastery over the sweet instrument and presented us with a unique rendering of this underrated song.
On June 18th, Kavya Narayan released her soulful imagining of the song ‘Baarishein’ by Anuv Jain. The strumming of the strings marries her melodious voice so beautifully that you might be in the danger of listening to this on loop again and again. What can we say, the talent the lovely people of our nation has simply cannot be encompassed.
We hope you enjoyed these covers! Happy listening. What songs do you think would sound perfectly with the Ukulele?
