A world medley

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Tom

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Many years ago Chris and I hosted a lunch for work colleagues. Since this was a multi-cultural/multi-national group, Chris suggested that folks might want to sing something in their native language. Some sang solo, while others paired up, but what a great experience! This was repeated multiple times over the years when we held parties at our home.

More recently, this has given me the inspiration to put together a "world medley" of songs played on the ukulele. I started working on it a year or two ago, but put it aside to focus on other stuff. I'm dusting it off and starting to re-think about the songs I'd include. Some easy ones (I know) are English, Celtic, Gaelic, Welsh, and French.

The Japanese song that almost everyone has heard is:

Ue o Muite Arukou (aka Sukiyaki).

Very easy to play in C on the uke, but not so easy for me to sing without tightening up my britches to the point of hurting  :eek:  For folks who can't remember or pronounce the Japanese lyrics, they're readily available in English.

I need help with a few other languages, and a Filipino lady offered to teach me the pronunciation of some Tagalog songs.
 
Sukiyaki is an interesting song with a very interesting history. The song has nothing to do with the food sukiyaki, and it has several translations into English. It was a number one hit in the US in 1963 which is amazing since that was less than twenty years since the end of WWII. Since then it has been rerecorded frequently and was a hit several times. Great song. A few years ago I finally found a stereo version of the song. For many years it was only available in mono.
 
A uke-playing friend is currently re-learning Japanese for a trip he and his wife (also a uke player) plan to take; They were born and raised here, but married over there, and I suspect they're going to visit old friends and work colleagues. I'm going to surprise him/them on one of our practice evenings by playing/singing this song. It might motivate them both to take their ukes on the trip and play/sing for their friends.
 
Here's a really simple way to strum Sukiyaki while singing (in Japanese). Four of the seven chords are in the well-known I-VI-IV-V progression used in so many western songs. In re-entrant tuned ukese, that's C-Am-F-G7, with Dm and E added. The bridge uses F, C, C7, Em, G7.
 

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