Lehigh Valley Folk Music Society
Instruments
Ukelele

The ukelele is a small four-stringed instrument common to the music of the Hawaiian Islands (resembling a miniature guitar) but related by origin to the Portugese braguinha. It is easy to learn to play, very portable and best suited to simple rhythm accompaniments. The strings are nylon and the tuning is the same as the top four strings of a guitar, but up a fifth: A D F# B. The fourth string, the A, is often very thin and tuned one octave up for a brighter tone.

In 1879, a shipload of immigrants from Madeira, Portugal arrived in Hawaii to work in the sugar cane fields and brought with them their instruments, among them the braguinha, a small four-stringed guitar. As the legend tells, in celebration of their arrival after a long and hard journey, one of the men jumped off the ship and started singing folk songs from his native Portugal playing the braguinha on the wharf. The Hawaiians were very impressed at the speed of the musicians' fingers as they danced across the fingerboard and they called the instrument "ukulele", which translates to "jumping flea" in English. The Hawaiian people took to the ukulele very fast and within 10 years it had become Hawaii's most popular instrument. Since then, the ukulele has found it's way into the hearts of millions of American music lovers.
In 1915, the year of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, the ukulele began it's popularity on the U.S. mainland. At the Exposition, Hawaii hosted a pavilion and their Hawaiian song and hula show, accompanied by the ukelele, became the main attraction. The music created a sensation, and Hawaiian music quickly swept the country. By the late teens, Hawaiian music had become the most popular music on the U.S. mainland and sales of ukuleles were booming. Tin Pan Alley produced dozens of Hawaiian songs, more than it had ever done before, and Victor Recording Company listed over a hundred Hawaiian recordings, more than any other type of music.

The ukelele had another boom following the 2nd World War, when U.S. servicemen brought back with them a love of the Islands and it's music and with it the ukelele. The ukelele became a large part of one of the most popular TV shows of it's time, "Arthur Godfrey and his Ukulele". Millions of ukuleles were sold so family members could play along with Arthur.

Today, there is a resurgence of interest in the ukelele and there are many luthiers that make the instrument. Annual ukulele festivals are well attended and growing - in Hawaii, California and Massachusetts. A major reason for its continually increasing popularity --- the simple fact that many ordinary people who have never played a musical instrument before can learn to play the it relatively easily. It is light and portable and you can take it just about anywhere. Bring out a ukulele at your next get social gathering and watch the smiles suddenly appear on everyone's faces. (Information and excerpts from Brudda Bu's Ukelele Heaven)

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