The ukulele was named in Hawaii (it means ‘jumping flea’ in Hawaiian) but was originally brought there by Portuguese sailors as a Machete (shown above) or Braguinha. Hawaiians insist on calling it an ‘oo-koo-lay-lee’, as do the Japanese, which is great, but ‘You-ka-lay-lee’ is how I pronounce it. You can also say it ‘Yow-ker-loo-lie’ or ‘that-pint-size-guitar’ if you fancy. Here’s a great picture of a 19th-century Madeiran Machete group:
When I started playing the ukulele in London in the 1980s, my only company was very old men and frightening 12-year-olds, and they mostly exclusively played George Formby, using the Banjolele (the banjo version of a ukulele). How lucky I was to meet the other members of the Ukulele Orchestra in a pub in Angel, North London. Thanks to bands like the Ukulele Orchestra and the internet, the ukulele has recently had a big resurgence in popularity, to the point where, these days, every other $&@! you meet has got one.
They make a cheerful sound, partly because of their strange tuning (with the top string tuned an octave higher than you’d expect) and their small size, but also because it’s hard not to smile when you see a grown man playing his heart out on a bonsai guitar.
