Okay, since my “octave chord” question has been addressed, I got another one. It’s tougher too.

A little backstory. Back on Feb 1st, the democratically elected government of Myanmar was ousted by a military coup d’etat. This triggered massive protests by the people. Millions hit the streets in opposition to this power grab. Amongst the millions there in Yangon, the main city, were the members of MULG – the Myanmar Ukulele Lovers Group. They set up and started jamming as any ukulele club would. They then got profiled by the media covering the event, the story got picked up by Reuters, and they ended up in every paper in the world.

The reason it was a popular story was the contrast between the two elements. People fighting for the future of their country… very serious stuff there… and a bunch of ukuleles. Which is what? Not so serious?

For me, I think more exposure for this underappreciated instrument, great. More exposure for this terrible situation in a country I now call home, even better. But the way it was set up in the story seemed patronizing. Like “Awww the ukulele players are into politics too… how cute”

Your thoughts?