Ask anyone which musical instrument they would like to study and possibilities are they’ll say the guitar. Hanging on the shoulder leisurely or wedged among the hands like a rockstar, the guitar in no way fails to reduce a cool image. And just a strum is sufficient to get listeners grooving.
Yes, we get the craze. However, the pandemic has thrown up one more favourite. Sample this: Shivani Vijay, a 24-year-old from Bengaluru, can not get sufficient of her ukelele — it appears like an acoustic guitar, albeit smaller sized. She purchased it last September just after quitting her IT job to pursue a hobby she had extended nursed. In a month, she taught herself to play the laidback Kho gaye hum kahaan, followed by the whimsical Tum jab paas aati ho and the pensive Agar tum saath ho. Her mother likes to playback the classic Ajeeb daastan hai from time to time when Vijay plays the ukelele. Known for its warm, nimble, lilting sounds, the Hawaiian instrument has brought Vijay a great deal cheer in these gloomy occasions.
“Most of my friends in college could play the guitar and I also wanted to learn it, but found it intimidating. As for the ukelele, it’s like a guitar, but smaller and less intimidating. I learnt to play it by watching online tutorials and, seven months on, I am ready to invest in a guitar. Thanks to my ukelele, I have a fair grip on the strings now,” shares Vijay, who is at the moment self-employed.
Like Vijay, a lot of individuals, which includes singer Shreya Ghoshal and actors Kalki Koechlin and Bhumi Pednekar, are increasingly purchasing the ‘uke’ due to the fact the novel coronavirus sent us indoors in March of 2020. Social media is abuzz with #ukelelecovers set to the ‘chota guitar’, as it is loosely named, and images of ukes decked in fairy lights. Online music classes have now added ukelele to their portfolio as effectively. And regardless of the sluggish small business scene, the musical instrument is flying off the shelves of Indian music retailers more than ever prior to.
A mood-lifter
Vijay, who recovered from Covid-19 a month ago, says, “In the book I am currently reading, Women Who Run With The Wolves, the author says when you are feeling lost, music is a good way to bring yourself back to feeling better. Maybe that’s why people are pursuing music in the pandemic.”
But why the ukelele? Chitransh Nilay Saxena, a 27-year-old techie from Uttar Pradesh who is working in the Philippines, has his motives. “The sound of a ukelele is different from that of a guitar. The former is soothing yet peppy. Even sad songs sound upbeat on the ukelele. The guitar, on the other hand, has a more rock and concert vibe to it (sic),” explains the hobby singer, who purchased his uke last August, 4 years just after he got a guitar, but in no way got his way about it. Today, he is uploading ukelele covers on Insta and has even completed a gig for mates more than a video contact.
Likewise, Nandini Yadav is carrying out what she could not do on the guitar in the previous. She is finetuning the charming ballad Hey There Delilah on her uke of seven months. It’s a stressbuster for the sub-inspector who is posted in Uttar Pradesh’s Basti district. It’s also an accomplishment. “My resolution for 2020 was to learn a musical instrument and I have done it with the ukelele. It’s light and compact, so I carry it when I travel,” says the 28-year-old.
Chin2 Bhosle, a music educator at Furtados School of Music, understands why individuals are possessing it uncomplicated with their uke. In truth, his 14-year-old daughter learnt to play 4 songs on the ukelele by herself through YouTube in 3 months just after dodging the guitar. “A ukelele has four strings, while an average guitar has six. Also, its fretboard and frets are much smaller, so not much finger gymnastics needed,” he explains.
‘Sales across all ages’
Music shop owners confirm the uptick in ukelele sales via the pandemic. While Reynold’s, which has 3 retailers in Bengaluru, the music capital of India, saw a twofold boost compared to 2019, Dhanya Anish, operations manager of Thomsun Music House across Bengaluru and Kochi, claims that the brand sold out a consignment of at least 500 ukeleles in a month’s time just after the national lockdown was lifted in May last year.
At Kadence, which has pan-India operations, the ukelele emerged to be the most-sold instrument of 2020, surpassing the great ol’ guitar. “Though we brought the ukelele to India around the start of 2016, the sales have picked up only now. They are up by six-seven times,” COO Yash Gupta informs.
The instrument has benefitted from the celebrity assistance it has received on social media, which includes from Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketer David Warner, Gupta says. Adding to that list, Anurag Mukherjee, a music instructor in Hyderabad who has began supplying ukelele classes, says, “In India, its popularity can be credited to artists such as Shirley Setia and Taba Chake.”
What’s also made it a go-to music instrument for hobbyists is that a standard ukelele comes for Rs 2,000, less expensive than guitars that get started at Rs 5,000. The music shop representatives agree that even though their ukeleles go up to Rs 19,000 based on the size (21-30 inches) and wood utilized in the body, the majority of sales come about in the Rs 2,000-Rs 2,500 variety.
In terms of cities that are scooping up ukes the most, the names of Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Goa come up regularly. As for individuals purchasing it, it is largely college-goers above 20 and individuals in their 30s. “Girls seem to be buying it more… maybe because it’s light,” shares Anish. There are outliers as well. At Furtados, children are lapping up the uke, even though Kadence has seen individuals of retirement age order these.
Whatever be the cause, Mukherjee is glad that the ukelele, which was introduced in Hawaii in the late 1800s by the Portuguese, has come into its personal. “It belongs to the guitar family, but is a different instrument,” he says.
Saxena can not wait to take it exactly where it belongs. “Every time I play the ukelele, I feel transported to a beach, sitting with my friends in a circle around a bonfire. I would love to do it once the pandemic is over,” he indicators off.