The Gunnedah Uke-Alypts performed at the Central Coast Ukulele Festival at the Digger’s Club, Long Jetty, last month.
The festival started on Friday evening with a dinner and concert. This was followed by two full days of performances by Ukulele groups from far and wide in the main auditorium.
The Central Coast Ukulele Club, led by Liz and Rob Kitney and Adele and Brian Dye, organised and ran the event with military precision.
Performances began at 10am Saturday, 22 groups each performed for 30 minutes which included assembling on stage, setting-up, playing and singing their songs then leaving the stage to allow the next group to start on time.
The last performance finished at 10.30pm followed by another 17 groups performing on Sunday before the festival closed at about 7pm.
On both Saturday and Sunday, workshops were held in an adjacent room, to help improve strumming and singing techniques as well as correct use of microphones.
The “Gunnedah Uke-Alypts” performed a seven-song program that was well received with a lot of positive feedback.
The group’s theme was “Islander and New Zealand Maori Songs” including Maori lyrics taught to us by our leader Moana Shoobert.
When they are not performing at festivals across the state, the Uke-Alypts regularly host jam sessions and social events at hotels and clubs in the Gunnedah region.
As well as the Central Coast Ukulele Club, two other groups deserve a special mention for their outstanding performances at the festival. The ‘Ukastle Ukestra’ from Newcastle and ‘The Nukes’ from New Zealand, both these groups have YouTube posts which are well worth a look to understand the standard of performance that was enjoyed by all involved at Long Jetty last month.
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