Picture this: Two girls, cousins, growing up in the lush, tropical paradise of Hawaii, learn the ukulele at their father's knee. Singing the old, mournful island love songs with their mother, harmony and melody come as naturally as the hula.

Or this: Two girls gigging their way through Tokyo's garage punk scene come under the sway of leis and the tutelage of musical Svengali Hiroshi Asada, responsible for the original Pizzicato Five mondo onslaught.

Whichever version you choose to believe, Petty Booka's kitschy take on the '50s Hawaiian vibe is as intoxicating as a frangipani blossom.

The duo of Petty Booka, conveniently known as Petty and Booka, prefer to keep their identities under wraps, preferably in flowery sarongs. Rumor has it that Booka was part of a legendary all-girl punk band Flamenco Au-Go-Go in a previous incarnation. Petty is actually Petty Two, Petty One having "returned to Hawaii to walk her dog," explains Booka.

Backed by a cadre of ukulele-strumming fellows in Hawaiian shirts, theirs is a beguiling fiction. The gentle, almost plaintive, pluck of the opening notes to "Ukulele Lady," the first number on their new album of the same name (Benten Records), wafts like an island breeze. Wrapped in a cocoon of Booka's sweet high warbly soprano, Petty's slightly fuller, richer contralto and, of course, ukuleles, songs as disparate as Tom Waits' "Hang Down Your Head," or Jimmy Cliff's "Sitting in Limbo," take on a sweet almost melancholic innocence. A cover of Chris Isaak's "Pretty Girls Don't Cry" is particularly beautiful, ukulele and steel guitar weaving a shimmery musical net underneath Petty Booka's harmonies. The whole album, easy and kicked back, sings of summer.

Aside from their inspired "Hawaiianization" of modern hits, a Petty Booka album is always a treasure trove of reworked '50s and '60s gems. "We are trying to introduce a new generation to the good songs of yesterday," explains Asada.

While in the U.S. golden oldies rule the radio waves, only the garage rock scene in Japan has embraced '50s style and music. Though Petty Booka's repertoire is heavy with American songs from the '50s, Asada's musical retrospective is definitively a Japanese one.

In the '60s and '70s, Hawaiian bands became fixtures on the radio and in the nightclubs of Japan. Asada draws heavily from this era. Interspersed between the Hawaiian and occasional country standards are Japanese nuggets such "Tokyo Dodompa Musume," reworked for a younger generation. If Petty Booka can be accused of "copying" a foreign musical idiom, it is through the lens of Japan's own musical heritage.

The force that ties it together is none other than the ukulele. It is enjoying a revival at the moment, hanging beside the Fender basses and Gibson guitars in instrument shops.

"It's sweet and easy," explains Booka. So easy in fact that the present Petty, only on the job for one month, seemed mighty proficient during a live show recently in Shimokitazawa. Petty Booka concerts are veritable ukulele conventions; at one point there were five being played onstage. For the last number, members of Ukulele Afternoon, a casual ukulele group that doubles as a Petty Booka fan club, whipped out their instruments to bring the count to an impressive 15.

"It's not so much a boom, but a cult," says Booka of the ukulele's popularity. Rolling Coconuts, a ukulele magazine, regularly schedules "ukulele strolls." Booka says they offer an opportunity "to enjoy playing the ukulele surrounded by the beautiful vistas of mountains and fields."

Then again, you can just pick up "Ukulele Lady," and dream about it.

Petty Booka performs at 2 and 6 p.m. Aug. 1 at a free concert for the grand opening of Osaka Umeda Hep Five Building; Aug. 28 at the Hachinohe Grand Hotel in Aomori.

For more information, call (03) 5292-5550 or check the Petty Booka Web site: www.sister.co.jp

Samm Bennett, musical jack-of-all trades, emerges from the depths of the studio for a rare solo performance July 29. Bennett is a fluent performer who lightens the often serious tone of improvised music with a touch of play, and when necessary, a bit of structure. His songs, inviting on the surface, twist melody and rhythm in unexpected directions. Lately his attention has turned to electronics, so don't be surprised to hear a bit of drum 'n' bass or trip hop added to the mix.