History of the Ukulele 

 

You may know that the wife and I have taken on a new hobby - playing the ukulele. It's a hoot. We play at least once a week in the company of twenty or more others who play a uke or banjo uke. The group, known as the Roscommon Ukers, is a diverse group of amateur musicians who range in age from 8 to 90. The group includes a few who don't strum but enjoy accompanying the strummers with their voices as we play and sing a wide range of mostly old standards made popular by the likes of Don Ho, the Beatles, and a host of other well-known entertainers.

Now that I have passed the six-month period of learning how to play the instrument, I decided to look into its history. The following is the result.

 The ukulele is a small, stringed musical instrument that evolved from the historical lute that found a home in many Arab and European nations in the Middle Ages. Unlike the wide variety of shapes and various numbers of strings used by lutes, especially in Arab nations, the modern ukulele (built after 1850) has become standardized with four strings over a body that takes its basic shape like its larger cousins, various guitars or lutes. All these instruments produce musical sounds by strings stretched over hollow wooden bodies with a pear or teardrop shape. Common features for lutes, guitars, and ukuleles were: A neck with frets, Strings that musicians pluck or strum with their fingers or a pick, A soundboard with a sound hole to resonate the string vibrations making the sound louder.

Over time, four ukulele sizes were designed that are in use today. In order of size from small to larger, the sizes are soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. Ukuleles have four nylon strings tuned to produce the separate notes of G, C, E, and A (except for the Baritone ukulele, which is normally tuned to notes of D, G, B, and E). Often known as Ukes, modern instruments have 16–22 frets depending on their size.

The basic design of modern ukuleles came to America from a Portuguese island after an important intermediate stop in Hawaii. In 1873, the island nation of Hawaii was suffering an economic downturn to their important sugar industry due to a lack of workers. Hawaiian King Kalakaua supported the importation of workers from various nations including those from an island known as Madeira that lay off the coast of Portugal. Islanders from this nation responded to the call as willing workers set sail from their home island in the Atlantic to Hawaii in the Pacific.

Some years before his voyages across the Atlantic, Christopher Columbus, who at the time was a sugar trader, visited Madeira, a small island nation off the coast of Portugal. It is generally accepted that Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, as Cristoforo Colombo. Columbus (or Colombo) was well aware of the profits to be made in the sugar business. He also understood the necessary growing conditions for sugar and the navigational technique known as the Volta do mar. Christopher Columbus lived and studied navigation in Madeira after his marriage to a Portuguese woman.

Sugarcane cultivation and the sugar production industry developed from the 17th century forward. It became a leading factor in many island economies and increased the demand for labor. It was in Madeira that, in the context of sugar production, slaves were first used in plantations, sharing the work with waged settlers. The colonial system of sugar production was  put into practice on the island of Madeira, and then successively applied to other overseas areas where sunshine abounded along with warm temperatures. In Madeira it became evident that a warm climate, winds to work windmills for sugar crushing and easy access to the sea (for transportation of the raw sugar) were important components in what became a huge and highly profitable industry, which helped to fund European expansion. Ukuleles evolved along with the sugar industry in Hawaii. 

One of the most important factors in establishing the ukulele in Hawaiian music and culture was the ardent support and promotion of the instrument by Hawaiian King Kalākaua. A patron of the arts, he incorporated it into performances at royal gatherings and spoke highly of the small and affordable instrument. Developed in the 1880s, the ukulele is based on several small, guitar-like instruments of Portuguese origin, introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira. Three immigrants in particular, Madeiran cabinet makers Manuel Nunes, José do Espírito Santo, and Augusto Dias, are generally credited as the first ukulele makers. In late August 1879, the Hawaiian newspaper “reported that Madeira Islanders recently arrived here and have been delighting the people with nightly street concerts.”

Native Hawaiians quickly began using the new instrument. Famous entertainers incorporated the instrument in their programs and achieved success in capturing new audiences. Don Ho was one of the early singers whose song “Tiny Bubbles” was a sensational hit in 1967. In another instance, the staying power of the instrument was shown recently by a new rendition of the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, a native Hawaiian.

In the Hawaiian language the word ukulele roughly translates as 'jumping flea', perhaps because of the movement of the player's fingers. Legend attributes it to the nickname of Englishman Edward

Purvis, one of King Kalākaua's officers, because of his small size, fidgety manner, and playing expertise.

Lumialani Kalākaua; November 16, 1836 – January 20, 1891), was the last king and penultimate monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, reigning from February 12, 1874, until his death in 1891. Succeeding Lunalilo, he was elected to the vacant throne of Hawaiʻi. Kalākaua was known as the Merrie Monarch for his convivial personality – he enjoyed entertaining guests with his singing and ukulele playing. At his coronation and his birthday jubilee, the hula became a celebration of Hawaiian culture.

Use of the newly developed stringed musical instrument caught on in the United States in the first part of the 20^th century. Vaudeville performers especially liked its small size and portability as they moved from town to town celebrating all things Hawaiian.

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*The Madiera Islanders came to Hawaii by ship, The Ravenscrag, a four masted sailing ship that sailed from Madiera. The voyage made steady progress across two oceans as the ship sailed around the Cape of Good Hope leaving the Atlantic Ocean and sailed onward into the Pacific Ocean and thence to Hawaii with its 400 passengers bound for wage work in Hawaii’s fledgling sugar business.