ʽuku flea + lele jumping. “Who’d a thunk we’d be stocking and selling this many ukuleles?” That’s the question a long-time musical instrument distributor and I asked ourselves jokingly not too long ago. Ukuleles are everywhere and I love it. I traced the re-introduction of the instrument’s popularity to the American rock band Train’s 2009 single “Hey, Soul Sister,” at least that’s the first time I heard a ukulele featured in a contemporary popular song. “Soul Sister” charted at #3 on Billboard’s Hot 100, was the top-selling song on iTunes in 2010, and the overall second-best selling song in the US that same year. Israel Kamakawiwoʻole‘s famous spur-of-the-moment one-take demo session of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” happened back in 1988. His remarkable performance clearly has a lot of staying power as it has been featured in several films over the years. I haven’t noticed the spike in ukulele sales until recently though. We now have an entire section of our store dedicated specifically to ukes.
According to my research, it was the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco that introduced this 1880’s instrument with Portuguese origins to Americans. It triggered a Hawaiian music craze in America that would last for 40 years. I know. Crazy, right? Try typing “ukulele” into the YouTube search bar and you’ll get 8,250,000 results; a seemingly endless YouTube safari. I encourage you to watch the film “Life on Four Strings” about ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro and you’ll see that the instrument can hang with any genre of music. In the right hands, it can be shredded like any guitar virtuoso would their axe. I don’t see ukulele sales ever slowing down. Like I said before, I love it and here’s why.
Simply put, ukuleles are fun to play! We guitar players are already hitting the ground running when we pick one up. Figuring songs out on the ukulele keeps your brain and your ears sharp. Classic rock songs performed on the ukulele can be both hilarious and endearingly charming. Also, the ukulele is perfect for small children, making it an ideal gateway instrument to a guitar. My boys have grown up seeing me play guitar and while I’ve, of course, made instruction available to them, I’ve never forced the instrument on them. They have plenty of things going on and for now, I think they see the guitar as “Dad’s thing.” However, when I gave my youngest a ukulele and showed him a thing or two, his face just lit up! It became “His thing.” The ukulele is non-intimidating, size-appropriate and a source of immediate gratification for a small child.
Children love to play and they learn as they play. The ukulele is a great reminder for adults of this important truth. Our great-grandparents in the early 20th century became enamored with this 19th century pedigree instrument. Here we are in the 21st century and Grammy-winning American music duo, Twenty One Pilots, is still incorporating the ukulele into chart-topping contemporary music. Younger kids today don’t know about Tiny Tim tip-toeing through the tulips. They have come up seeing the ukulele as a legitimate instrument that can be used to convey real feelings and genuine songs with meaning. So, there’s my pitch for ukuleles! Leaping fleas everywhere! Who’d a thunk it?