Ukuleles are not an instrument native to Hawaii as many people presume. As Portuguese immigrants made their way to Hawaii at the end of the 19th century they taken with them different instruments from their country, such as the machete and the five stringed rajão, both of which date from sometime in the early 1800s.

There are four men well-known during the initial history of the instrument in Hawaii. Joao Fernandes presumably played a small stringed instrument on the docks after arrival on th...
Continue reading ...