Sounds of laughter and ukulele music filled the air at Oamaru's Grainstore Gallery as members of the Oamaru Intergalactic Ukulele Ensemble gathered for their weekly practice on Monday night.
The group has to cope with fluctuating membership numbers due to unavoidable things like a North Otago winter, but several were rehearsing for Friday's Light the Night trail in Geraldine.
The players were pulling their song list together and working on their harmonies.
The band formed about seven years ago. Group member Donna Demente said it came together as a fun and social musical group. She said the appeal of the ukulele over other instruments was it was easy to learn.
Bandmate Jan Wingate, of Oamaru, described the instrument as "social'' and portable.
"I've taken this instrument into the Mongolian desert on the back of a camel so I could play it around the campfire.''
Another member, Ann Willetts, said the ukulele was an instrument anyone could pick up.
"My sister is 80 and she can pick it up now to keep her fingers supple.
The music the ensemble plays is varied and covers most genres.
The only rule the ensemble followed when choosing music, Ms Demente said, was it had to translate well to the ukulele.
"You've got the whole history of rock and roll at your fingertips. We're sticking to selecting old songs.
"We do everything from the Sex Pistols to The Cure.''
The group played at festivals, weddings and other occasions and had never encountered hecklers, she said.
"We did crash a wedding, a very posh one.''
Ensemble player Oliver Briggs said the band was practising and playing at a pub in Geraldine when they were invited to the wedding by a man who liked what he heard.
"About 11.30 we turned up in the bus and crashed this ABBA band and pushed them off stage and started drinking all their beer.
"It was pretty rock and roll. The man was never seen again.''
Ms Demente said communities like Oamaru gained from having groups like the ensemble form, just as the ensemble members also benefited.
She said just based on the number of times the group performed at rest-homes and schools it was good for the area that there were people available to volunteer entertainment services.
She said the hope for the future for the band was that performing would remain "fun'' and they would be able to do interesting things.
"There's no particular ambitions ... but because of the revived interest in the ukulele there's things to look forward to like festivals.''
