Colin Morris - Dominion Post

Had it not been for the need to vacate the venue to allow Cantina to set up I have no doubt we would have all been quite happy to keep this duo until midnight, such was the camaraderie between audience and performers.

In front of a sold-out crowd, we were treated to not only lessons on playing the ukulele, but a comedy act that bordered on beautiful, seemingly unrehearsed, self- lacerating humour

Starting with a self-penned tune in the ceilidh style, Smash the Windows, we were immediately won over and what followed was the perfect evening of tunes, stories and musical virtuosity.

Everybody there will have a favourite memory, mine being the mickey take of John Cage - Hill playing a laptop uke with chopsticks and a thimble. Titled Long Canadian Winter No 74, it really was the most outrageous and hilarious, yet semi-serious, tune that certainly wiped out any preconceptions that the ukulele was the world's simplest instrument after the spoons.

No understudy, Davidson proved just how versatile the cello was as she stroked, banged and bowed her way through, proving to be the perfect foil to Hill's showmanship.

For others it would be Hill's take on Billie Jean, in a self mocking, almost Shakespearean intoned song complete with audience participation that seared itself into the memory. And then there was the blistering speed of a Bluegrass tune Ode to a Frozen Boot and the jazzier Lying in Wait, which could have graced any Woody Allen film.

Describing themselves as just your average ukulele and cello duo, Hill regaled us with tales of being quarantined in Singapore at the outbreak of a swine flu alert plus an aside about Wellington City's catch phrase Absolutely Positively Wellington - before having us in fits of laughter over the equivalent Canadian cities.

As much as anything, the evening will be remembered for demystifying the ukulele.

I don't know about you, but I had a plucking good time.