February 2: Play Your Ukulele Day

Today is Play Your Ukulele Day. Here are ten things you might not know about this instrument.

1. The ukulele is a small instrument which resembles a Guitar but is actually a member of the lute family of instruments.
2. It's most often associated with Hawaii, and was considered its national instrument in the late 1800s by Queen Lydia Liliʻuokalani. King Kalākaua was another fan from the Hawaiian royal family - he incorporated it into performances at royal gatherings.
3. Although the instrument is associated with Hawaii, it didn't originate there. It evolved from an instrument called a machete which was brought to the islands by Portuguese sailors.
4. There are three possible origins of the word ukulele. Most often quoted is that it roughly translates as "jumping flea" in Hawaiian, possibly due to the way a player's fingers move. (incidentally, one method of tuning the instrument is to strum all four strings with the thumb and sing "My dog has fleas.") Another possibility is that it means "jumping men" because of the jumpy dance performed by some early musicians. The third possibility comes from Queen Lili‘uokalani, who used a more poetic version of the word, which could be interpreted as "a gift from afar".
5. Ukuleles come in four sizes - soprano, concert, tenor and baritone.The soprano is the standard size.
6. A ukulele has four strings tuned the the notes G-C-E-A.
7. Early ukulele strings were made from cat or sheep gut. Now they are usually made from nylon.
8. In the UK, the most famous ukulele player was George Formby. Tiny Tim also played one on his hit Tiptoe Through the Tulips. Other UK musicians who played the ukulele included Beatle George Harrison (who had a huge collection of them) and Pete Townshend.
9. The best selling song to feature the ukulele is Jason Mraz’s 2008 single I’m Yours (76 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and over 6 million downloads).
10. Other famous ukulele players include Ryan Gosling, Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball, Cyndi Lauper, Taylor Swift - and Neil Armstrong. When in quarantine after returning from the Moon, Armstrong would while away the hours playing his ukulele.

I write fiction, too! My characters include some British superheroes and a psychic detective. You never know, your new favourite could be here! You won't know unless you look...

See details of all my books

Browse other topics I've covered in this blog - HERE.

Like my Facebook page for news of Topical Ten posts, posts on my writing blog, and news of upcoming publications.