A repertoire of 100 songs may seem impressive to the mainstream non-musician, but to the Goulburn Valley’s Ukuladies, it is standard fare and seems to be a song list that continually grows.
Coming together from all over the GV and Riverina, the 12-strong band of ukulele strummers formed one day during a serendipitous chat at the end of a line dancing lesson.
“The instructor was speaking to me, asking what I do outside line dancing and she expressed her interest in learning to play the ukulele,” the troupe’s co-leader Rachele Tricarico said.
“And I said ‘well I can teach you the ukulele’ and she said ‘oh yes I’d love to learn the ukulele’.”
The line dancing teacher then scooped up whoever was in the room and formed the team on the spot.
“She called out to everyone who was there ‘who’d like to learn the ukulele?’ and that’s how it actually began.”
That was six years ago and within two years the group had grown in number, half of whom came to hold court at Country News recently with their anecdotal banter and laughter, all six dressed to the nines in matching rhinestone vests, fedora hats and a splash of red.
And of course, their ukuleles to reel off a few of their hits.
It was the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the Ukuladies to really hit their straps.
“An interesting thing happened in Zoom days,” Rachele said.
“Everyone gained confidence.
“Because of the (Zoom) delay, we each had to sing on our own.”
“And that made us practice because we knew we were going to be on our own,” Jen Gaylard said.
The ladies regaled Country News with random Zoom episode stories where husbands walked through the background in their underwear.
In addition to the baptism of fire imposed by lockdown on each player’s skill, the team developed a mission to bring sheer joy and high quality entertainment to retirement homes, nursing homes, town halls and CWA hotspots.
The group’s music traverses all ages and delivers hits from the final 50 years of last century, from Elvis to Australia’s John Williamson.
ABBA is always a favourite, but costuming took some convincing, according to Jen.
“There was a bit of a brick wall when I suggested it,” she said.
“Nobody wanted to do the ABBA costumes.”
Satin prevailed.
The group also delight in some themed songs with their loftiest member Anne, assigned to the lead in Henry Strzelecki’s Long Tall Texan.
“I don’t know why,” she said with a wry smile.
Anne also steals the show as the ‘naughty nun’ when the Ukuladies roll out their hits from Sister Act.
“I even have a cigarette.”
The serious side to this troupe starts with their spirit of community within themselves, looking after each other with the simpler things such as celebrating birthdays.
Outside of that, the group volunteers its time and energy to simply entertain the elderly in regional areas and draw crowds to raise funds for community groups, all for the price of a contribution to their fuel and sundry costs.
“Our giving is doing all these performances to entertain the elderly mainly, to a group that appreciate our singing,” Cheryl Smith said.
The Ukuladies boast of having one groupie, who sits front and centre at every one of their visits.
They also compare their audiences as they travel everywhere from Berrigan to Nathalia, out to Yarawonga and down to Thoona.
“A couple of places have fairly non-responsive audiences ... they all say they love it but they don’t show a lot, whereas others are very smily and happy,” Cheryl said.
“Berrigan nursing home is our best audience, they get up, they dance, they sing,” Jen said.
“They were so loud one time, that we could hardly hear ourselves — it was like being in the pub.”
I might make it two groupies.
Keep an eye out for the Ukuladies.