Stage is set for Sukulele (From Dorset Echo)

Stage is set for Sukulele

12:20pm Friday 10th July 2009

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IT SINGS a sweet tune but you couldn’t say the ukulele was exactly rock’n’roll.

But Weymouth musician Sarah Vincent, who is making her festival debut tonight, reckons her instrument of choice will go down well with crowds.

Sarah, 20, who performs under the name Sukulele, has proved to be a hit on the local music scene singing her self-penned comic tunes as well as covers by a bizarre range of artists including Beyonce, Tom Jones and George Formby.

Singer Sue Denim from electro-pop duo Robots in Disguise was so impressed with Sarah’s style she invited her on tour.

Now Sarah has been invited to play at Bourne Free, Bournemouth’s annual gay pride weekend.

She will be singing on the main stage in The Triangle tonight.

Sarah is enjoying the exposure and hopes she is helping in her small way to bring the ukulele into the mainstream.

An increasing number of popular artists have started to pick up the instrument, and it will be making its debut at the BBC Proms this summer, courtesy of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

Former Budmouth student Sarah, of Cobham Drive, said: “It used to be seen as something older men would play, but younger people are starting to pick it up.

“I still get a few odd looks though, and when I’m carrying it in a case people think it’s a violin but I talk to them about it and they become interested.”

Sarah is studying a BTEC Performing Arts course at Weymouth College and hopes to go to university next year.

In the future, she dreams of forming her own theatre company.

She bought her first ukulele two years’ ago because it looked ‘quirky and interesting.’ It sat in her bedroom for a year before she decided to play.

Sarah said: “I’ve always had a fascination with musical instruments but I never learned to play one properly.

“Since I’ve started to play it I’ve become hooked.”

Sarah helps out at the Space Youth Project for young lesbian, gay and bisexual, transgender people in Dorset and through the group got to hear about Bourne Free.

She said: “I’m really excited about playing at the festival. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

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