Ukulele means, "jumping fleas," in Hawaiian, which reflects the musician's speed of playing.
Portuguese immigrants working Hawaii's sugar cane fields in the late 1800s adapted their native small guitar-like stringed instruments to create what is known today as the ukulele, Hawaii's most popular musical instrument. Ukuleles come in four sizes that produce different sounds: soprano, concert, tenor and baritone.
Portuguese Roots
The most commonly accepted history of the ukulele dates to 1879 when Portuguese craftsman Manuel Nunes went to the Hawaiian Islands to work in the sugar cane fields. Nunes and fellow immigrants Joao Fernandes and Augustine Dias are credited with using the design of their native stringed instruments to create the ukulele, according to Bounty Music's Hawaiian Ukulele Guide.
New Name
Portuguese workers arrived in Hawaii with their braguinha, a small four-stringed instrument, also known as cavaquinho, and adapted it by using local wood products. Most histories and folklore about the ukulele claim the Hawaiian name roughly means, "jumping fleas," to reflect the speed with which the musician's fingers move across the four strings.
Another interpretation of the name is that it means, "the gift that came here," from the native Hawaiian words "uku" meaning gift and "lele" meaning to come.
The instrument is often simply referred to as a uke.
Local Popularity
The Ukulele Guild cites an August 1879 issue of the Hawaiian Gazette newspaper in Honolulu that reports the Portuguese workers from the Madeira Islands "have been delighting the people with nightly street concerts." The newspaper described the instruments as "a kind of cross between a guitar and banjo" that produced "very sweet music."
Hawaiian King David Kalakaua, a renowned patron of the arts, learned to play the ukulele and became a champion of the instrument, according to the Ukulele Guild. The king had musicians play the instrument to accompany hula dances during his Jubilee celebration in 1886 and during royal parties.
Mainland Craze
The ukulele moved to the U.S. mainland in 1915 when a Hawaiian music craze started in California. Appreciation of Hawaiian music came after ukulele players performed that year at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco that celebrated the Panama Canal's construction, according to Pineapple Pete's Uke School.
Jazz Age Popularity
Guitar manufacturers such as Gibson, Regal and Dobro started mass-producing ukuleles in the 1920s. The instrument became popular in the Jazz Age not just for its sound but also for its small size, affordable price and portability for traveling musicians.
Popular Culture
Actress Marilyn Monroe played the ukulele in the 1959 Billy Wilder comedy "Some Like it Hot." In 1968, novelty musician Tiny Tim revived interest in the ukulele when he used it to accompany his singing of "Tip Toe Through the Tulips." George Harrison, a former member of the Beatles, played the ukulele.
The late contemporary Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo'ole helped revive interest in the ukulele with his popular 1993 medley of the songs "Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World."
Preservation
Vintage ukuleles and historical uke music have become collector's items. The Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum was founded in 1996 to "document, preserve and promote the history of the ukulele, its players, and makers, as well as to inspire and engage people everywhere in the perpetuation of the ukulele and ukulele music through performances and exhibits." Its first inductee was Hawaiian King Kalakaua.
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