Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Tale Of How The Ukulele Acquired Its Name

By Keola Kawanako


The ukulele can be described as Hawaiian musical instrument that resembles a miniature acoustic guitar. Though it may seem like a guitar it's very different from an acoustic guitar. It has 4 strings, rather than half a dozen strings like a guitar and it is tuned in a different way. It typically is tuned to GCEA, while a guitar is tuned to EADGBE. It's also played differently. Even though a few ukulele players will use a pick like most guitar players utilize, traditionally, an ukulele is played with the fingertips alone.

This musical instrument was initially introduced to The State Of Hawaii in 1879. It's based upon two Portuguese musical instruments known as the rajao and the cavaquinho, which had been brought to The Hawaiian Islands through the early Portuguese immigrants, that came out here to work on the sugar plantations.

The vice-chamberlain of King Kalakaua, Edward Purvis,, over heard an individual strumming the cavaquinho and chose to study how to play it. Purvis was a little and extremely energetic man. He played the cavaquinho with a lot of energy and because of this; the Hawaiians gave him the moniker of "Ukulele", meaning jumping flea. He received this moniker simply because his lively playing style and modest stature reminded them of a jumping flea.

Later, several cabinet makers from the Portuguese area of Madeira, created the first ukulele, basing it after the cavaquinho and rajao, which Purvis played so well. A person decided to apply Purvis's nickname to this unique instrument and this is the way the ukulele obtained its moniker. The naming of this musical instrument is twice as apt, due to the fact numerous people point out that the fingers of an ukulele musician resemble jumping fleas, specifically whenever they're playing a up tempo tune.

From its modest start back in 1879, in Hawaii, the ukulele has become a well-known instrument. In 1920, it first grew to become well-known inside the U.S. throughout the Jazz age. And in the 1990s its reputation has begun to ascend again by means of musicians like: Jake Shimabukuro, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole and also previous Beatle, George Harrison.




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