"The ukulele craze has swept the country," says Hester Goodman, a member of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, which last week played to 6,000 enthusiastic fans at the Royal Albert Hall as part of this season's Proms. Goodman, who has played with the group for 20 years, is still flushed with success. "It was a real moment for all of us. It was an accolade to be asked to play," she says. The high point of the show arrived when 1,000 ukulele players in the audience joined in on an abridged version of Beethoven's Ode to Joy.
"Afterwards, I saw a clip of Ode to Joy on YouTube and I must admit I had a tear in my eye," says Goodman. It was a ukulele tipping point. For so long an underrated instrument - members of the orchestra sometimes refer to it as the "bonsai guitar" - the ukulele is having its moment in the sun. Last year, the New York college student Julia Nunes became a YouTube phenomenon when she posted videos of herself performing songs by The Beatles and Ben Folds on the ukulele. Will I Am of the Black Eyed Peas and Jermaine Clement from the comedy duo Flight of the Conchords have both announced that they are keen uke players (Clement is a member of the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra). The Beatle George Harrison was so enamoured of the instrument that he often gave it as a gift, while the billionaire financier and Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett recently declared himself a ukulele aficionado. An increasing number of indie bands are using the instrument, including Noah and the Whale, which enjoyed a worldwide ukulele-based hit with Five Years Time. And there is now a website, www.ukulelehunt.com, that explains chords and strumming techniques to the ukulele's growing horde of devotees.
So, why all the sudden interest? "Whenever I pick it up and start playing, people smile," says Goodman. "It's a friendly instrument. It's not threatening. It's easy to play, so it's empowering. It makes people feel special." The simplicity of the instrument has helped the ukulele take off in schools, where it has challenged the recorder as a starter musical instrument. "It's small and its strings are soft, so it is great for little fingers," says Keiron Phelan of London's specialist ukulele store The Duke of Uke. "It makes a great first instrument and, unlike the recorder, you can sing along to it, too."
"There is no great repertoire for the ukulele," adds Goodman, "so you can play modern songs as well as classical." It's not just players who love the ukulele. Audiences are listening to the instrument with fresh ears. The pop musician Dent May released an album titled The Good Feeling Music of Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele this year. He says that picking up the ukulele has won him new fans.
"My audience really dig it," he says. "It's a joyful instrument. "It can be very jaunty, but it can be sad too. It can evoke more than just one emotion," says Beth Jeans Houghton, who plays ukulele on the Hot Toast Volume One EP, which is out next month. "It can be very, very poignant," agrees Goodman. "You can strip down the pomp and production and get to the heart of a song. I don't think of it as a comic instrument at all."
It was on a camping trip with my family this summer that I, too, fell under the spell of the ukulele. Impressed by the instrument's ability to get some rather cynical people to join in a campfire singsong, I resolved to become a player. My first stop was The Duke of Uke. Phelan recommended that I spend around £50 to £60 (Dh300-Dh360) for a beginner's instrument. While there are cheaper models on the market, spending a little more would help me avoid buying an instrument that might easily go out of tune.
While ukuleles come in different sizes, Phelan suggested a soprano (the classic size) and pointed me in the direction of reliable makes such as Tanglewood, Makai and Stag. After twanging a few, I settled on a Tanglewood TU1 soprano for just under £50. And that, he said, is all I needed to know. "You don't need lessons," said Phelan. "Get some chords off the internet and play what you like. You can do it sitting in front of the TV."
I rushed home and had a little strum, pleased that I now had at least one thing in common with Buffett (it would be something to talk about should we ever meet). But after an hour or so, I realised that the financial genius Buffett was wrong about one thing. He said playing the ukulele wouldn't impress girls. Now my wife wants to take up the ukulele, too.
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THE%20SPECS
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
more from Janine di Giovanni
DIVINE%20INTERVENTOIN
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THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
No more lice
Defining head lice
Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.
Identifying lice
Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.
Treating lice at home
Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.
Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital
