(from Hawaiian: ‘leaping flea’).
A small guitar-like instrument. It is derived from the virtually identical machete da braça (see fig.1) brought to the Hawaiian (then the Sandwich) Islands by immigrants from Madeira. There is no string instrument native to Hawaii other than the ’ūkēkē, a mouth bow. Three Portuguese instrument makers arrived in 1879: Manuel Nunes, who opened the first shop in 1880, and his associates Augusto Dias and José do Espirito Santo, who opened their own shops in 1884 and 1888 respectively. The instrument rose swiftly to popularity among the native population: in 1886 ukuleles were used to accompany hula dancers at King Kalakaua’s jubilee celebration, and the Hawaiian Annual of the same year reported that ‘of late they have taken to the banjo and that hideous small Portuguese instrument now called the “taro-patch fiddle”’. The ‘taro-patch fiddle’ is a large ukulele which appears to be derived from the machête da rajao.
Although a US tour by the Hawaiian Glee Club in 1901 included ukulele accompaniments, and a Los Angeles publisher, R.W. Hefflefinger, was advertising ‘a self-instructor for the ukulele or Hawaiian guitar and taro-patch’ by 1914, the ukulele first truly came to national prominence during the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 in San Francisco. According to the official history of the exposition published in 1917, ‘people were about ready for a new fad in popular music at the time of the Exposition and the sweet voices of the Hawaiians raised in those haunting minor melodies you heard at the Hawaiian Building … were enough to start a musical vogue.’ In the Hawaiian music fad that swept across the United States, lasting into the 1930s, the ukulele was at the forefront. The small portable size and light weight, combined with a simple tuning and undemanding technique, were all factors in the ready acceptance of the ukulele for the accompaniment of popular song. Tin Pan Alley songwriters published dozens of novelty songs that mentioned the ukulele in the titles or lyrics. A flood of instruction books, mostly published outside Hawaii, appeared in response to heightened interest. American guitar manufacturers, including Martin, Gibson and Weissenborn, offered variously sized models; later entrants to the market included Lyons & Healy, Regal, and Harmony, all of Chicago. The Kamaka Ukulele Co., founded in 1916, remains the sole mass production operation in Hawaii; independent instrument makers also cater to serious performers.
Numerous entertainers have been associated with the ukulele as virtuoso performers; many have written instructional books as well. Hawaiian players include Ernest Kaai (1881–1962), active from the 1910s to the 30s; Jesse Kalima (1920–80), active from the 1940s to the 60s; and Herb Ohta [Ohta-San] (b 1934), who has released several dozen recordings since 1964. In mainland America exponents include Cliff Edwards [‘Ukulele Ike’] (1895–1972); Roy Smeck (1900–94); May Singhi Breen (d 1970); Arthur Godfrey (1903–83), whose television show in the 1950s sparked a revival of interest; and ‘Tiny Tim’ (Herbert Khaury; 1925–96). The fashion for the ukulele also spread to Europe, where it was adopted by stars of British music hall; one of the most successful entertainers of the 1930s and 40s, George Formby (1904–61) (see fig.3), featured the banjulele: a hybrid instrument combining a banjo body with a ukulele fingerboard, stringing and tuning. In the 1990s a new generation of virtuosos has brought renewed attention to the ukulele in Hawaii, foremost among them Troy Fernandez and Israel Kamakawiwo’ole (1959–97).
There are four sizes of ukulele: soprano or standard (46–53 cm in length, with 12 to 17 frets), ‘concert’ (c60 cm; up to 19 frets), tenor (c70 cm, 18 to 22 frets) and baritone (c80 cm, up to 22 frets). Instruments with four strings predominate. The tuning is re-entrant and spans a major 6th, although absolute pitch is not regarded as important: the basic tuning of g'–c'–e'–a' may be raised or lowered to enable the player to accompany in a key that is comfortable for the singer’s voice and avoids awkward chord patterns. The different sizes are used to provide variety of timbre and register. On the tenor and baritone resonance is often enhanced by doubling (or even tripling) the courses, and tuning the doubled strings an octave apart. All four sizes are played predominantly with a strummed chordal style, although the soprano ukulele has also become a virtuoso melody instrument, starting with the work of Jesse Kalima in the late 1950s.
H.H. Roberts: Ancient Hawiian Music (Honolulu, 1926/R)
J.H. Felix, L. Nunes and P.F. Senecal: The ’Ukulele: a Portuguese Gift to Hawaii (Honolulu, 1980)
G. Gruhn and W. Carter: Acoustic Guitars and other Fretted Instruments: a Photographic History (San Francisco, 1993)
A. Tsumera: Extraordinary Ukuleles: the Tsumura Collection from Japan, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 8 Sept–3 Oct 1993 (Honolulu, 1993) [exhibition catalogue]
J. Beloff: The Ukulele: a Visual History (San Francisco, 1997)
JAY SCOTT ODELL/AMY K. STILLMAN