Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, Sam Carter from Architects, Wet Leg, Maisie Peters, and members of Ezra Collective and Jurassic 5 are among an impressive cast of musicians providing voices for characters in Yukee, a new CBeebies TV series aiming to teach kids about "the sheer joy of making a noise with friends".
Premiering on CBeebies on Monday, February 5, the animated series is described as "a music-first preschool series created by musicians for the musicians of the future."
A BBC press release states: "The show is a series about the sheer joy of making a noise with friends and reminds us that ‘music is for everyone’, as well as having themes of community, friendship, and cooperation at its heart. Yukee offers young audiences a gentle, child-centred introduction to music education and exposes them to simple, yet fundamental musical concepts that will form a strong foundation for lifelong learning and enjoyment of music - beat, rhythm, pitch, tempo, timbre, form, dynamics, expression and style."
The show's main character, Yukee, is of Northern Ireland and Chinese heritage, and in every episode she takes her red ukulele into a magical garden filled with instrument-playing animal friends.
Rivers Coumo provides the voice of a musician pigeon called Feathers, with a guitar called Wheezy, needing the right beat so he can learn to flap his wings again. Sam Carter plays Hoops Van Badger, king of rock, in an episode all about loud and quiet music, while Wet Leg appear as a travelling troupe of snails called The Slime Sisters. The show also features appearances from 6Music presenter Lauren Laverne (ex-Kenickie), who plays Roxie Rabbit, a reporter from a radio station called Sticks Music. Other musicians involved include PP Arnold, Tom Odell, and Dame Evelyn Glennie.
Speaking of his unexpected diversion into kids' TV, Sam Carter says, “Doing this was so much fun and something that I was so thrilled to be asked to do. Fun and easy musical learning like this is so important. If it wasn’t for the musical teachers in my school I wouldn’t have ended up with the career I’ve been fortunate enough to have.”
Wet Leg add, “Our unexpected magical musical adventure has turned us into two touring snails, as the Slime Sisters in CBeebies’ new animation Yukee! We hope we can spark a little love of music making amongst CBeebies fans.”
Yukee will also be available on the BBC iPlayer.
