Ukulele talent plays with his teeth

Shane Wenzlick

TUCKING IN: Fourteen-year-old Siuta Veaila plays the ukulele with his teeth.

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It wasn't enough for Siuta Veaila to learn how to play the ukulele with his fingers.

He also had to learn how to do it with his teeth.

The 14-year-old from Otara recently won Ukequest – New Zealand's first search for teen ukulele talent – when he blew away the judges with a rendition of Pokarekare Ana played with his pearly whites.

The Tangaroa College student started ukulele lessons with legendary player Sione Aleki when he was nine.

Mr Aleki was famous for playing with his teeth and that inspired Siuta to give it a go too.

It's pretty easy, he reckons. You play two strings with your top teeth and the other two with your bottom row.

But he admits his talent is "quite unusual" and can shock his audience.

"When I start playing with my teeth they're surprised," he says.

The teenager doesn't read sheet music and plays by ear instead.

He can learn almost any song just by listening to it and spends a lot of time on Youtube searching for new tunes to play.

Siuta practises the ukulele for 30 minutes each day at home with his dad Paula on back-up. The duo will be performing together during tomorrow's New Zealand Ukulele Festival at the Trusts Stadium in Henderson.

The Kiwileles, a mass orchestra of 2000 schoolkids, will join Siuta to play Pokarekare Ana.

But he'll be the only one strumming with his teeth.

- © Fairfax NZ News