Mooncakes, Lanterns and my Ukulele !

In my previous post titled " View from a 11th storey building "...I mentioned that D2 and I were there for a Mooncake cum Lantern festival Singalong dinner party. These are mainly seniors and friends who had previously invited me to provide the musical accompaniment during their Singalong get-togethers. At times, I brought along my accoustic guitar and amplifier set plus all the percussion instruments and of course, by popular request...my Ukulele.

However, the amplified sounds can cause problems to other nearby residents and neighbours. So, I prefer not to use the amplifier unless I am making music in a hall or in an enclosed pavillion.

Here we were all enjoying the singing of many" oldies" and the evergreens of yesteryears.

As usual, those who came early had the chance to hear some individual Ukulele solos from Unk Dicko.

Then we got into the swing of things very quickly as more people arrived and the songsheets came out.

By that time, Lucy Lau who was on the electone, had got herself ready and since neither she nor I had any collaborated joint practice beforehand..we will have to more or less agree and "play by ear".

It is easier if she plays the melody and I provide the rhythm in whatever key agreed upon.
The problem that surfaced was the songbook that she used had only a limited number of songs and the chords in the key printed there were often too high or too low for the majority to singalong to.

So, if we opt for another key the chords for the new key are not on the pages...and this usually pose a big challenge for any musician to play "verbatim".

For me, on the Ukulele it is never a problem as I can play in any key chosen.

Then there are many requests for songs that often are not in the songsheets supplied. In such cases, my 4 decade old handwritten songbook is a very good resource.

Photos: Unk Dicko leading the Singalong