A row has broken out between rival ukulele orchestras, after one accused the other of “shadowing” their US tour.
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, established in 1985, launch their US tour on Wednesday, with plans to travel to seven states along the eastern seaboard over 12 nights.
Members of the orchestra have been left outraged, however, after discovering that the UK Ukulele Orchestra – which was recently banned in the UK for passing themselves off as the more established act – plans to tour the east coast in just 10 days’ time.
“I was amazed to discover it was in the same quadrant of the US,” said George Hinchliffe, a founder member of the UOGB. The orchestra has toured the US several times before. “Some of those gigs are in the same state as we are, a few miles away from our gigs.”
The two arrangements will both perform in New York state, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. The rest of the dates are in different states, although both orchestras are predominantly performing in the east.
The TUKUO, which played its first gig in 2011, was banned from performing under that name in the UK in July after the older organisation took legal action claiming they were “intentionally copying” their oeuvre. The more recently formed orchestra, like the UOGB, wear evening attire during their performances. Like the UOGB, they perform cover versions of pop songs and are even made up of the same number of ukulele players – eight – with the same ratio of men to women.
The ruling banning the TUKUO ukelele orchestra from aping the UOGB ukelele orchestra, made in the UK’s high court, only applies in that country. Soon after the legal case the TUKUO announced it would be touring America, with some dates crossing over with the UOGB.
“It couldn’t be more blatant really,” Hinchcliffe said. He said the rival orchestra was “shadowing” his band with their decision to tour the US at the same time. He said the UOGB would consider taking similar legal action in the US, although “we’re not going to be doing that before we do this tour, that’s for sure”.
The UOGB perform cover versions of songs by Talking Heads, David Bowie and American rock band Wheatus, among others. They have something of a cult following in the UK, where they have performed at the Proms and at Glastonbury, and have toured more than 15 countries in their 30-year existence.
During the legal action fans of UOGB came forward to complain that they had gone to a TUKUO show by accident. The judge said that some concert-goers had found TUKUO shows “to be of low quality” when compared to the more-established orchestra.
At the time Clausen said the coincidence had been “an honest mistake”. The TUKUO did not respond to the Guardian’s requests for comment.
