I felt I had to place at least one message on this thread, if only to say... viva la ukelele!

The uke is great for singsongs, not so loud as a guitar and more portable. It is also more forgiving of unskilled playing.

Ukulele playing has reached a high level of mastery in Pacific Island string-band music, which often have several ukes, keeping a high-pitched rhythmic pulse going. In the last few years a new style of uke has a started to appear in New Zealand, probably from the islands. It has a solid body and is strung like a mandolin. Sounds different and very nice.