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THE WELLINGTON INTERNATIONAL UKULELE ORCHESTRA: The Dreaming EP

I’ll happily applaud this orchestra’s work with children; the concerts and workshops at schools, the free shows at Wellington’s Botanical Gardens and the discounted family-focused concerts. Wonderful stuff. Very positive. But I’m being asked to assess a CD – an EP of five songs. These covers – part po-faced and faux-earnest – are not my idea of fun listening. The idea that this is a band of (mostly) amateurs just having fun seems to have been taken to heart by all and in the context of the free shows and the community involvement that’s wonderful. But, listening to Dreaming Of You, That’s Amore and Blue Smoke as attempted here is hard work. The singers can’t sing, most of the ukuleles are poorly played, there’s problems with pitch – at one point everything and everyone sounds out of tune. And I don’t even want to hear Toto’s version of Africa, much less a shonky cover. I’m trying to forget this troupe of merry revellers ever attempted a song by Prince, but for the record (so to speak) I’ll state here that there is a cover of I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man. Presumably, in this instance, the ‘Your Man’ refers to someone who can sing and play in tune.

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