Local musicians from Southampton Ukulele Jam are raising funds for a film that will share the stories behind their music, and document why individual jammers joined – and give up weekend after weekend playing the ukulele to raise cash for charity.
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By using fundraising platform Kickstarter, the Jam are planning to release the documentary online, for free, early next year.
Since forming in 2008, they have grown to be the biggest ukulele jam on the south coast, playing to thousands of people at festivals, concert halls and community events.
And they often attract upwards of a hundred ‘jammers’ to their fortnightly sessions at Southampton’s Talking Heads pub.
‘I was really struck by their infectious enthusiasm and sense of fun’
Now, a meeting with an up-and-coming documentary film-maker has inspired them to document the diverse and often heart-warming tales of how they came to join the jam, and why they love spending almost every weekend playing the humble ukulele to raise money for charity.
“Seeing the way the jam interact with audiences, I was really struck by their infectious enthusiasm and sense of fun and wanted to find out more,” said film-maker Amy Lupin. “And when I started hearing from them why they were involved, I knew I had to make the documentary.”
Jam lead Colin McAllister said: “We’re really proud of what we do and love meeting so many different people when we jam and play. We’re often asked how such a fantastic group of people found each other, how we have developed and how we continue to grow, so when Amy asked if we were interested in making a documentary to share our experiences and stories, we leapt at the chance.”
Rewards
The group are offering ‘rewards’ to those who help fund the documentary and hope that people who have seen and enjoyed them, as well ukulele fans from the UK and overseas, will be keen to help them out.
“We’d love to think it will inspire others to get involved or start ukulele jams of their own. We know it will be cracking fun to watch,” said Colin.
The Kickstarter campaign runs at www.southamptonukulelejam.co.uk/kickstarter until November 14. In the meantime the jam will meeting as usual and welcoming new members every other Monday at The Talking Heads in The Maple Leaf at the Polygon.
You can read more about who they are and what they do at southamptonukulelejam.co.uk.