Hawaii’s latest bid to unseat Sweden as the world record holder for largest ukulele ensemble performance fell short Saturday night, but for many of the more than 1,200 four-string strummers who converged on the Blaisdell Arena for the attempt, defeat was painless and, they insist, temporary.

"Oh, it was lots of fun," said 90-year-old Rachel Lee, who came with more than a dozen of her friends from One Kalakaua Senior Living to participate in the event. "I’d love to do it again."

A fundraiser for the nonprofit Music for Life Foundation, the event brought together ukulele players of all backgrounds and ability levels in an attempt to break a record for the largest number of people to simultaneously play a single composition for 5 minutes on the ukulele.

Sweden set the record in 2011 when 1,547 ukulele players gathered in Helsingborg to jam on "Leende Guldbruna Ōgon," a song made famous (in Sweden, one assumes) by the band Vikingarna.

"That’s not right," said Jewel Purdy, who took the Handi-Van from Kaneohe just to participate in Saturday night’s event. "The record has to come back home."

An attempt last fall by the Music for Life Foundation to bring the record home to Hawaii drew just over 1,000 people.

Saturday night’s attempt came much closer, with 1,296 players lending their fingers to a rendition of "1, 2, 3, GoForDaRecord," an original three-chord composition by ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, who led last night’s proceedings with his characteristic aplomb.

After a brief tutorial on the song, Shimabukuro welcomed to the stage nearly 50 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders from Iliahi Elementary School. For the previous record attempt last October, the students, along with teacher Tom Yamamoto, composed lyrics to the song.

With Shimabukuro shouting directions, the students and the other players on the arena floor breezed through the song, whooping to themselves as the lights dimmed and their neon bracelets came to life.

The announcement that their bid for the record had fallen short once again — as verified by an on-site adjudicator from Guinness — was not made until after the performance. But it hardly dampened the festive mood.

"When people attempt something this large, it’s usually 50-50 that they succeed," said Guinness’ Carlos Martinez. "Usually, when people come this close, there is much more disappointment, people saying that they don’t want to try again. But the response here was very positive. People were still smiling and having fun. That shows the community here in Hawaii is special."

Music for Life Foundation founder and CEO Leo Daquioag said he was disappointed by the result yet happy that the larger message of the gathering wasn’t lost on its participants.

"This was about bringing people together, having a good time and enjoying an instrument that is so closely associated with Hawaii," Daquioag said. "The number of people who showed up tonight is a testament to how much interest there is in music and in this instrument."

And yet, Iliahi Elementary fifth-grader Charlene Abanes said she and her classmates aren’t ready to concede anything to those strumming Swedes.

"I told my friends that when we’re in middle school we have to come back and get the record," she said.