History of the Ukulele

Ukuleles seem to be quite popular among the nerdy musician types on YouTube, and since I just bought one, I figured it would be fun to write a bit about the history of the instrument.

Before I start, I want to make sure you're pronouncing it right. Most people (or most Americans, at least) will say "you-ka-LAY-lee." This is wrong. It's "Oo-koo-LEH-leh." Now you have no excuse for pronouncing it wrong, okay? Okay.

Most people assume that the ukulele is a traditional Hawaiian instrument, when in fact it is not. The ukulele as we know it today was designed by Portuguese immigrants in Hawaii in the late 1800's. They based the design on similar instruments from their own country. The word "ukulele" roughly translates to "jumping flea", because ukulele players' fingers moved so quickly across the fingerboard.

The ukulele became quite popular, helped by the support of the last Hawaiian king, David Kalakaua. It reached the mainland around 1915, and its popularity spread quickly throughout the US. Only one of the three Portuguese immigrants who had first designed the instrument, Manuel Nunes, was still building them. While he took on an apprentice to help him meet the overwhelming demands for ukes, several guitar companies on the mainland began to manufacture them. Apparently some of them were stamping "made in Hawaii" on the back of their instruments when they hadn't actually made the ukuleles in Hawaii. This caused Hawaiians to create a legally protected trademark, allowing only genuine Hawaiian-made ukuleles to bear the words "Made in Hawaii, U.S.A.", and making it a misdemeanor to use the trademark falsely.

The popularity of the little instrument continued to grow in America through the 1950's, but by the late 60's it began to fade. By the early 70's, there was only one manufacturer of ukuleles in the world. Happily, the ukulele has been making a comeback in recent years, and becoming more and more popular in modern music.

What I like about the ukulele is that it's inexpensive, portable, and very easy to play. I've had my Lanikai lu-21 (an upgrade from my old toy uke) for about 24 hours now and I've had way too much fun with it already. (I've been trying to learn some songs by Charlie McDonnell and Tom Milsom; I'm guessing you guys probably know who they are.)

In conclusion, Jake Shimabukuro is awesome.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post! Hopefully it was educational enough for education week.

DFTBA,
Emily

P.S. If any of you challenge me to learn a song on my ukulele, I will make a video of me playing and singing and put it on YouTube. Easy pop songs only though, k? I can't play more than chords at this point.

P.P.S. Resources:

http://www.ukes.com/ukelele_history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukulele