The ookoolaydeez are on a mission to light up the world with joy using irresistibly singable tunes, playful wit and exuberant whimsy.

Songbirds Tara Hope and Diana Kolpak serve up a spicy buffet of original songs and poems that take you on an unexpected, hilarious, profound, wild and juicy journey.  Among the tasty offerings are: snappy blues, dark lullabies, Shakespearean rap, sweet bluegrass and flirty musings about housework. Harmonies are sophisticated. Instruments include a motley assemblage of ukuleles, a washboard, a toilet plunger, a toy glockenspiel and baby tap shoes…just to name a few.

The ookoolaydeez made their debut at the 2025 Woodstove Festival in November, followed by house concerts and an appearance at the Art is Love is Resistance fundraiser in Cumberland.

Diana studied classical piano and has decades of experience as a theatre performer and director. Tara studied ukulele and guitar and is a prize-winning wearable art creator/performer. Both are poets and published authors. They started writing songs together in the autumn of 2024.

In addition to performing as the ookoolaydeez, Tara and Diana also sing as part of The Happy Gang, an ensemble of six fiddlers, four vocalists, a percussionist, a guitarist and a bass player, who play monthly concerts at several of the Comox Valley’s long term care facilities.