Within 10 years of Joao Fernandes's joyous celebration of his arrival in Hawaii, the ukulele become Hawaii's most popular instrument. Much of this was due to Joao Fernandes himself. The story goes that he spent most of his time walking around Honolulu playing his ukulele, much to the annoyance and scoldings of his wife!
King David Kalakaua soon grew enchanted with this wonderful instrument. Fernandes and his friends would go to the king's bungalow where, according to Fernandes, there were "plenny kanakas, much music, much hula, much kaukau, and much drink. All time plenny drink and King Kalakaua, he pay for all." The king became an accomplished player himself and even designed his own instruments. Other noble ali'i who played the ukulele were Queen Emma, Queen Lili'uokalani, Prince Leleiohoku, and Princess Likelike. By the late 19th Century, every Hawaiian music lover was strumming his own ukulele - from taro farmers to fishermen as well as kings and queens.
Also onboard the original immigrant boat, Ravenscrag, were several Portuguese who were capable of making musical instruments, including Augusto Dias, Jose do Espirito Santo, and Manuel Nunes. In 1884, Dias opened a small shop in Honolulu for manufacturing and repairing musical instruments, especially guitars and ukulele. Four years later, both Santos and Nunes had opened shop. Nunes became the most successful, with he and his son Leonardo making ukuleles into the 1930's. In fact, it is told that Nunes claimed to be the designer of the original Hawaiian ukulele.
The ukulele continued to enjoy tremendous popularity. The 1920's and '30's were the times of the famous Waikiki beachboys. Legendary beachboy parties were held in the 1920's at the Moana pier (which jutted out from the beach at the Moana Hotel), where from sundown to sunup the beachboys would strum their ukulele and sing Hawaiian songs. Chick Daniels, the head beachboy at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel for over 50 years, not only performed in Hawaii, but also in Hollywood and on Arthur Godfrey's radio show in New York. The ukulele first became popular on the mainland in 1915, when Hawaii hosted a pavilion at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Legend has it that the song "On the Beach At Waikiki" was the first big hit. This was the first time that Hawaiian music had been promoted on the U.S. mainland and it soon swept the country. By the mid 1920's mainland musical instrument companies were making ukulele by the thousands and some of these companies angered the Hawaiians by stamping them "Made in Hawaii." However, some of the finest ukulele instruments that were ever made were manufactured during this time by the C.F.Martin Co. of Pennsylvania. To this day, these ukulele are considered collector's items.
By the late 30's, the popularity of the ukulele began to fade. But then World War II came and servicemen coming back from Pearl Harbor brought back with them a love of the Islands, its music, and that little 4-stinged instrument. By the early 50's, the ukulele was once again popular. One of the most popular TV shows of the time was "Arthur Godfrey and his Ukulele." There was even a special plastic ukulele, called the "TV Pal", that you could buy for a few dollars and strum along to Arthur every Tuesday and Friday night.
Then came the 1960's with new ideas and new sounds. Again the ukulele began to fade in popularity. By the early '70's, Kamaka in Honolulu was the world's only manufacturer of ukulele.
Today, we are seeing the ukulele make another "jump" in popularity. In Hawaii, many talented craftsmen have dedicated their time and livelihood to meeting the high demand for top quality ukulele (see Adopting An Ukulele and How to Make An Ukulele). Kamaka has a 12-month backlog of orders and you'll have an even a longer wait if you want a custom-made ukulele. Learning to play the ukulele is a regular part of the music program in Hawaii's schools (see Na Haumana: Students of the Ukulele) and people of all ages and backgrounds are picking up the ukulele for the first time (see The Ukulele News-ic Page). Hawaii's most popular musicians make brilliant ukulele-playing their trademark (see Na Kaulana: Famous Ukulele Players).
Ukulele festivals are found all over the country. The Ukulele Festival, held on the last Sunday in July in Kapiolani Park in Honolulu, is in it's 28th year and features many of the world's great players. Mainland ukulele events, such as the Northern California Ukulele Festival and the Uke Expo in Massachusetts draw hundreds of people. Ukulele love and information is shared across the expansive world of the internet through numerous websites (see The Kokua Corner). We invite you to submit the ever-evolving history of the ukulele as it is being written in your corner of the world to our Ukulele News-ic Page.
Go back to The Ukulele Biography
Resources:
www.geocities.com/~ukulele/history.html
www.hotspots.hawaii.com/ukulele.html
Ukulele 0 Hawaii: Instructions For Beginning & Advanced Students of The Ukulele, by Ohta San, Kamaka Hawaii Inc.