Bergen County ukulele group brings strangers together in perfect harmony

Show Caption Hide Caption Ukulele group gathers in Cresskill A ukulele group gathers in Cresskill every Thursday to play songs together.

It was a quiet winter night outside the Cresskill Senior Center. Inside, it was filled with the pleasant sounds of the ukulele.

Ukulele? Yes, the miniature, four-stringed cousin of the guitar that descended from the Portuguese stringed instrument the machete, and gained a foothold in Hawaii in the 19th century.

Its popularity has waxed and waned, but it has been experiencing a resurgence in recent years.

Helping to bring it to the fore again are enthusiasts like those in the Bergen Ukelele Group, aka BUG, which was formed last year by Cresskill resident Beryl Skog to unite people in Bergen County with a shared fondness for the instrument.

Skog said she played with a group of ukulele enthusiasts while visiting Portland, Oregon. When Skog came back home, she went searching for like-minded folks, with no success.

"So my feeling is, if you can't find something, you start it yourself," Skog said.

Every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., members of this informal group divide their time: a half-hour for beginners and chord work, an hour for working on songs of the week, and the remaining time for jamming on a favorite song.

On a recent Thursday, the group's co-organizer, Joffin Mari Motyka, a Closter resident, strummed her ukulele and sang lead on Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain," while Bergenfield resident Sue Zitelli accompanied her.

Motyka had been playing for six months before she found out about the group.

"I have always sung, but I love to sing with live music, and my bandmates are not here and I can't find a group," Motyka said. "I was trying to teach myself how to play guitar, but with no luck. Then I picked up the ukulele, and within an hour, I could play one song."

Motyka said the group has 44 members, but depending on the conditions, anywhere from five to 20 will show up. This night, bad weather and previous obligations led to a small turnout. Only one other member, Bob Kaminski of Bergenfield, showed up.

Kaminski said a friend in Florida spurred his interest in the instrument and he got hooked. Zitelli's husband, a guitarist, bought her an ukulele that she "never put down."

Over the next hour, the trio would cover songs including "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King and "Ripple" by the Grateful Dead.

Zitelli said being in the group had led to meeting "friends we didn't know we had" who got along so well they were planning a party.

For Zimmerman, "It's nice. We were all strangers before we came into the group, and now we're friends. You can't beat that."

Ricardo Kaulessar is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com Twitter: @ricardokaul

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