Past, Present & Practice is a colorful guide to the basics of ukulele for beginners and more advanced players. It's delightful journey to the instrument's origins and current practice, spiced with anecdotes – and sincere passion for ukulele.
In Global Ukulele, the authors Arto Julkunen, Markus Rantanen and Liam Capper-Starr, all internationally renowned ukulele experts, tell the story of the ukulele from Madeira to Hawaii and onwards via the United States to the truly global phenomenon it has become.
Global Ukulele will also reveal a few surprise stories from the ukulele's colourful history, touching closely on not only the world of music, but also that of the movies. The book includes an extensive training section with a collection of training videos, which will help ukulele enthusiasts to become familiar with new playing techniques and different musical styles.
Arto Julkunen is a cultural historian of popular music, a ukulele teacher and director of the internationally renowned Tropical Winter Ukulele Festival in Finland. In addition to Finland, he has performed as a musician in England and South Korea.
Markus Rantanen is a music teacher, musician and composer. He has master's degrees in music from the Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department and in music teaching from North Karelia University of Applied Sciences. Rantanen has conducted hundreds of ukulele courses at music colleges, community colleges and other communities. Since 2018 he has worked as a lecturer at the Turku Conservatory. Rantanen has also composed music for theaters and television.
Liam Capper-Starr is a VFX and motion graphics artist living in UK. He plays ukulele, bass and guitar, both as a solo artist and in the bands "Dani and Liam", and the "Mersey Belles and Beaus". His debut album "Needs More Cello" was runner up in the Best Album category in the Uke Magazine awards.
Before Global Ukulele, Julkunen and Rantanen have written two ukulele guides in Finnish together. Suuri ukulelekirja (The Great Ukulele Book), a guide to the basics of playing ukulele, was published in 2017. Its sequel Ukulele kompista sooloon – harrastajan kirja (Ukulele, from the comping to the solo – The Amateur's Book) is a guide to advanced ukulele players and was published in 2018.