大不列顛尤克里里樂團（UOGB）將于10月4-12日在香港，重慶，上海，北京展開首次中國巡演，其中在內地部分的演出得到了英國大使館文化教育處的大力支持。八位才華橫溢的樂手將用自己獨特、充滿創意和趣味的方式為樂迷和粉絲呈現一系列世界古典名家和經典流行作品。不僅如此，樂團還會專門為中國的uku樂迷帶來特別的演出驚喜。此外，英國大使館文化教育處會攜當地主辦方舉行樂團互動工作坊，并特邀中國知名尤克里里音樂人——張松濤和各地樂迷一起與樂團面對面，探索尤克里里創作和改編的奧秘。

演出日程：

2014年10月5日周日20.00，香港沙田大會堂

2014年10月7日周二20.00，重慶天地文化劇場

2014年10月9日周四20.00，上海交響樂團音樂廳主廳

2014年10月12日周日19.30，北京三里屯太古里橙色大廳

大不列顛尤克里里樂團成立于 1985 年，起初只是出于好玩, 但首場演出就票全部售完，自此他們就開始了正式的表演生涯。到了1988 年，他們已經發布了一個LP，受邀登上BBC 電視，在WOMAD演出，并被錄制了BBC 電臺的一檔時間。目前樂團已經表演了20 年，并已成為英國國家知名團體。樂團已經在世界各地包括英國，德國，瑞典，芬蘭，波蘭，法國，美國，加拿大，新西蘭和日本舉辦了成千上萬票房完售的音樂會，他們最近在悉尼歌劇院（2012 年），皇家阿爾伯特音樂廳（2008 年）和紐約的卡內基音樂廳（2010 年），票房也皆一售而空。他們在2012 下半年返回皇家阿爾伯特音樂廳和卡內基音樂廳。

大不列顛尤克里里樂團的音樂會僅憑著“小吉他”和各種歌聲在后朋克和經典老歌的碰撞中展現了趣味性，藝術性，強大的撥弦技巧，搖滾的激烈和悠揚輕松的曲調。沒有鼓，鋼琴，伴奏或班卓琴，無音調轉換器或電聲花樣。只有四弦琴，歌聲和一點俏皮的口哨調配在一起發出如同大樂團般的驚人樂聲。從柴可夫斯基到涅槃樂隊的奧蒂斯雷丁和意大利西部片配樂，樂團帶領觀眾踏上只有手提行李的“世界旅行”，并一次又一次撥動聽眾的心弦。

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain 2014 China Tour

Sunday 5 October 2014 20.00 , Hong Kong Sha Tin Town Hall

Tuesday 7 October 2014 20.00 , Chongqing Taindi Theatre

Thursday 9 October 2014 20.00 , Shanghai Symphony Hall – Concert Hall

Sunday 12 October 2014 19.30 , Beijing, The Orange, Taikoo Li Sanlitun,

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is a touring musical group which has been delighting audiences, raising the roof, selling out performances, and receiving standing ovations since 1985; a group of "all-singing, all strumming" ukulele players that has been active for 29 years, using instruments bought for loose change, which holds that all genres of music are available for reinterpretation as long as they are played on the ukulele.

The orchestra is celebrated for its rapport with audiences, and eliciting a joyous feel-good reaction. A description of the concert's basis sounds astoundingly simple: eight performers, eight instruments, eight voices, (no gimmicks, no stage set, props or scenery, no fireworks, no special effects, no light show, no dancers, no laptops, no samples). And yet, as millions have enthused about over the years, the orchestra tears the house down with music, songs, catchy, emotive, stomping and toe tapping tunes, banter and wit and inexplicably draws the audience in, to a joyous world beyond the conflicts of musical genre or the difference between a serious concert and comedy. Since the first sold-out concert in 1985 "The Ukes" have released many CDs, albums and DVDs, appeared on TV and radio in many countries, and toured the world during more than 9,000 days and nights of ukulele action. The orchestra is independent, anarchic, funny, virtuosic, thought-provoking and mind blowing. It has "sixteen-handedly changed the face of the ukulele world".

The orchestra, sitting in chamber group format, and dressed in formal evening wear (regardless of the time of day or the venue, whether Glastonbury Festival or Carnegie Hall), uses the limitations of the instrument to create a musical freedom as it reveals unsuspected musical insights. Both the beauty and the vacuity of popular and highbrow music are highlighted, the pompous and the trivial, the moving and the amusing. Sometimes a foolish song can touch an audience more than high art; sometimes music that takes itself too seriously is revealed to be hilarious. As the orchestra's publicity states: "You may never think about music in the same way once you've been exposed to the ukes' depraved musicology", as "with instruments bought for loose change", on their "world tour with only hand luggage", they bring you "one plucking thing after another".

The Orchestra has spawned many imitators. In 1985 when the ukes began, the term "Ukulele Orchestra" could have sounded ironic, as one might hear "The Sahara Desert

Sub-Aqua Club". Over time, the term has become the default label for a group of ukulele players, and indeed the Orchestra can be seen to have popularized the trend for playing ukuleles in groups. Many clubs and ukulele societies exist in many countries now, and the conception of the ukulele as suitable for ensemble-playing, or as a 'consort' or as a social activity seems to have been derived from the Ukulele Orchestra. There are now literally thousands of ukulele groups, many of which call themselves Ukulele Orchestras. Some of these are conscious tributes to the UOGB, some have outstanding merit in their own right, while some merely aspire to pass themselves off as the original. Certainly, a large part of the energy in the current ukulele wave is derived from the oldest and best Ukulele Orchestra; The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

（來源：英國使館文化教育處，編輯 Helen）