The Ukulele, or should we say Braguinha, or Cavaquinho, or…?

Some Sri Lanka ensembles played ukuleles, an instrument adopted in Hawaii from the Portuguese cavaquinho, braguinha or machete chordophones brought over by immigrants from the Portuguese Atlantic islands to work on the sugar cane plantations there.

Braguinha (from Braga, North Portugal), Cavaquinho, Quatro (Caribbean Islands, “due to its four course of strings”), Machete (Brazil and Madeira?), Ukulele (Hawaii, meaning “jumping fingers” or “jumping flea”, from the way it was played) and Keroncong (Krontjong Toegoe in Indonesia with its Cafrinho and Moresco styles) are all similar instruments from Portuguese origin.

Some state that “…kroncong, joget, ronggang and dondang saying were music and dance genres that evolved in the Malay courts throughout the Malay Archipelago during the period of Malay-Portuguese contact. New rhythms contributed to the popularity of cross-cultural music and dance such as joget and krongcong.

Kroncong is considered to be a successful Indonesian-European artistic synthesis. The guitar and the ukulele provide harmony in the kroncong. Keroncong is thought to have evolved in the sixteenth-century Portuguese colonies in the Moluccas (Maluku) and Batavia (Jakarta). Malaysian keroncong is mainly associated with Malacca (Malacca), a former Portuguese colony. …

Kroncong became firmly established in Jakarta by the 1800s, and also in the other port cities. The Indonesian kroncong is thought to be the origins of the Malaysian keroncong, which is probably the oldest genre of popular Malaysian music.” (Jayasuriya 2008 p.64-5) “In Batavia, kroncong is associated with the Mardijkers (freed African, Indian or Malay slaves of the Portuguese who had been converted to Catholicism).

Immigration of Mardijkers had ceased in the nineteenth century and then they had ceased to exist as a separate ethnic group except in the village of Tugu near Tanjung Priok where a small pocket of ‘Black Portuguese? Lived. This Christian group had continued to perform kroncong. Mardijkers and kroncong were also found in Ambon, the Moluccas, another Portuguese-Dutch-Indonesian hybrid space. By the mid-twentieth century, kroncong penetrated inland and was influenced by gamelan music.” (Jayasuriya 2008 p.65)

“Today’s kroncong ensembles have one or more singers, ukulele, banjo, guitar, cello, double bass, violin and flute. In the nineteenth century, the Portuguese songs accompanied on the kroncong guitar indicate the Malay, Dutch and Eurasian musical factors. These songs had catchy melodies which people could remember and, understandably, they became popular.

These verses were originally four-line quatrains and became known as pantum in the Malay-speaking quarters when the Portuguese words were replaced by Malay.” (Jayasuriya 2008 p.66) “Joget emphasizes duple and triple-beat divisions, both in alternation. The rhythm, is similar to 6/8 dances like the tarantella and fandango, although joget is commonly notated in 2/4 time.

The most important identifying feature is a constant rhythmic feeling of two against three, achieved in various ways. Joget is fast and it has a four-beat rhythmic pattern, incorporating a triple figure. Traditionally, the violin, rebana (a single-headed frame drum), gendang and gong played joget. Joget and kroncong are known by the Malay diaspora is Sri Lanka who visit Malaysia and Indonesia but they are not popular genres among the Sri-Lankan Malays.” (Jayasuriya 2008 p.66)

Jayasuriya, Shinan de Silva “The Portuguese in the East. A Cultural History of a Maritime Trading Empire”, Tauris Academic Studies, London & New York, 2008

Following section was copypasted from Wikipedia, as accessed July 2024:

The ukulele (/ˌjuːkəˈleɪli/ YOO-kə-LAY-lee; from Hawaiian: ʻukulele [ˈʔukuˈlɛlɛ], approximately OO-koo-LEH-leh), also called a uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.^[1]^[2]^[3]

The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and construction. Ukuleles commonly come in four sizes: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone.

History

Developed in the 1880s, the ukulele is based on several small, guitar-like instruments of Portuguese origin, the machete,^[4] cavaquinho, timple, and rajão, introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira, the Azores and Cape Verde.^[5] Three immigrants in particular, Madeiran cabinet makers Manuel Nunes, José do Espírito Santo, and Augusto Dias, are generally credited as the first ukulele makers.^[6]

Two weeks after they disembarked from the SS Ravenscrag in late August 1879, the Hawaiian Gazette reported that “Madeira Islanders recently arrived here, have been delighting the people with nightly street concerts.”^[7]

One of the most important factors in establishing the ukulele in Hawaiian music and culture was the ardent support and promotion of the instrument by King Kalākaua. A patron of the arts, he incorporated it into performances at royal gatherings.^[8]

In the Hawaiian language the word ukulele roughly translates as “jumping flea”,^[9] perhaps because of the movement of the player’s fingers. Legend attributes it to the nickname of Englishman Edward William Purvis, one of King Kalākaua’s officers, because of his small size, fidgety manner, and playing expertise.

One of the earliest appearances of the word ukulele in print (in the sense of a stringed instrument) is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s Catalogue of the Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments of All Nations published in 1907. The catalog describes two ukuleles from Hawaii—one that is similar in size to a modern soprano ukulele, and one that is similar to a tenor (see § Types and sizes).^[10]

Canada

In the 1960s, educator J. Chalmers Doane dramatically changed school music programs across Canada, using the ukulele as an inexpensive and practical teaching instrument to foster musical literacy in the classroom.^[11] At its peak, 50,000 schoolchildren and adults learned the ukulele through the Doane program.^[12] “Ukulele in the Classroom”, a revised program created by James Hill and Doane in 2008, is a staple of music education in Canada.^[13]

Japan

The ukulele arrived in Japan in 1929 after Hawaiian-born Yukihiko Haida returned to the country upon his father’s death and introduced the instrument. Haida and his brother Katsuhiko formed the Moana Glee Club, enjoying rapid success in an environment of growing enthusiasm for Western popular music, particularly Hawaiian and jazz. During World War II, authorities banned most music from the West, but fans and players kept it alive in secret, and it resumed popularity after the war. In 1959, Haida founded the Nihon Ukulele Association. Today, Japan is considered a second home for Hawaiian musicians and ukulele virtuosos.^[14]

United Kingdom

British singer and comedian George Formby was a ukulele player, though he often played a banjolele, a hybrid instrument consisting of an extended ukulele neck with a banjo resonator body. Demand surged in the new century because of its relative simplicity and portability.^[15] Another British ukulele player was Tony Award-winner Tessie O’Shea, who appeared in numerous movies and stage shows, and was twice on The Ed Sullivan Show, including the night The Beatles debuted in 1964.^[16] The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain tours globally, and the George Formby Society, established in 1961, continues to hold regular conventions.

George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon all played the ukulele.^[17] Harrison, who was a Formby fan, was a great lover of the instrument and often gave them to friends, including Tom Petty, whom he taught to play it.^[18]

United States mainland

Pre–World War II

The ukulele was popularized for a stateside audience during the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, held from spring to autumn of 1915 in San Francisco.^[19] The Hawaiian Pavilion featured a guitar and ukulele ensemble, George E. K. Awai and his Royal Hawaiian Quartet,^[20] along with ukulele maker and player Jonah Kumalae.^[21]

The popularity of the ensemble with visitors launched a fad for Hawaiian-themed songs among Tin Pan Alley songwriters.^[22] The ensemble also introduced both the lap steel guitar and the ukulele into U.S. mainland popular music,^[23] where it was taken up by vaudeville performers such as Roy Smeck and Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards. On April 15, 1923, at the Rivoli Theater in New York City, Smeck appeared, playing the ukulele, in Stringed Harmony, a short film made in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process.

On August 6, 1926, Smeck appeared playing the ukulele in a short film His Pastimes, made in the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process, shown with the feature film Don Juan starring John Barrymore.^[24]

The ukulele soon became an icon of the Jazz Age.^[25] Like guitar, basic ukulele skills can be learned fairly easily, and this highly portable, relatively inexpensive instrument was popular with amateur players throughout the 1920s, as evidenced by the introduction of uke chord tablature into the published sheet music for popular songs of the time^[25] (a role that was supplanted by the guitar in the early years of rock and roll).^[26]

A number of mainland-based stringed-instrument manufacturers, among them Regal, Harmony, and especially Martin, added ukulele, banjolele, and tiple lines to their production to take advantage of the demand.^[27]

The ukulele also made inroads into early country music or old-time music ^[28] parallel to the then-popular mandolin. It was played by Jimmie Rodgers and Ernest V. Stoneman, as well as by early string bands, including Cowan Powers and his Family Band, Da Costa Woltz’s Southern Broadcasters, Walter Smith and Friends, The Blankenship Family, The Hillbillies, and The Hilltop Singers.^[28]

Post–World War II

From the late 1940s to the late 1960s, plastics manufacturer Mario Maccaferri turned out about 9 million inexpensive ukuleles.^[29] The ukulele remained popular, appearing in many jazz songs throughout the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s.^[30] Much of the instrument’s popularity (particularly the baritone size) was cultivated by Arthur Godfrey on The Arthur Godfrey Show on television.^[31] Singer-musician Tiny Tim became closely associated with the instrument after playing it on his 1968 hit “Tiptoe Through the Tulips“.

Albert Louis Viohl emigrated to the U.S. in the 1860s and started the Empire workshop in 1883, where he made various stringed musical instruments, including guitars and mandolins. Both of his sons joined the family business, and in 1902, Louis, Jr., took over running it (August was the other son), and added ukuleles to the catalogue in the late 1910s to the 1920s.

Post-1990 revival

After the 1960s, the ukulele declined in popularity until the late 1990s, when interest in the instrument reawakened.^[32] During the 1990s, new manufacturers began producing ukuleles and a new generation of musicians took up the instrument. Jim Beloff set out to promote the instrument in the early 1990s and created over two dozen ukulele music books featuring modern music and classic ukulele pieces.^[33]

All-time best-selling Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo’ole helped repopularize the instrument, in particular with his 1993 reggae-rhythmed medley of “Over the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World“, used in films, television programs, and commercials. The song reached number 12 on Billboard’s Hot Digital Tracks chart the week of January 31, 2004.^[34]

The creation of YouTube helped revive the popularity of the ukulele. One of the first videos to go viral was Jake Shimabukuro‘s ukulele rendition of George Harrison‘s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps“. The video quickly went viral, and as of September 2020, had received over 17 million views.^[35]

Construction

The ukulele is generally made of wood, though variants have been composed partially or entirely of plastic or other materials. Cheaper ukuleles are generally made from plywood or laminated woods, in some cases with a soundboard of a tonewood such as spruce. More expensive ukuleles are made of solid hardwoods such as mahogany. The traditionally preferred wood for ukuleles is a type of acacia endemic to Hawaii, called koa.

Typically, ukuleles have a figure-eight body shape similar to that of a small acoustic guitar. They are also often seen in nonstandard shapes, such as cutaway and oval, usually called a “pineapple” ukulele (see image below), invented by the Kamaka Ukulele company, or a boat-paddle shape, and occasionally a square shape, often made out of an old wooden cigar box.

These instruments usually have four strings; some strings may be paired in courses, giving the instrument a total of six or eight strings (primarily for greater strumming volume.) The strings themselves were originally made of catgut. Modern ukuleles use strings made from nylon polymers, synthetic gut, or fluorocarbon or wound strings composed of a (typically) nylon core wound with metal or polymers,^[36] including aluminium and silver-plated copper.^[37]

Instruments with six or eight strings in four courses are often called taropatches, or taropatch ukuleles. They were once common in the concert size, but now the tenor size is more common for six-string taropatch ukuleles. The six-string, four-course version, has two single and two double courses, and is sometimes called a lili’u, though this name also applies to the eight-string version.^[38] Eight-string baritone taropatches exist,^[39] and 5-string tenors have also been made.^[40]

Types and sizes

Common types of ukuleles include soprano (standard ukulele), concert, tenor, and baritone. Less common are the sopranino (also called piccolo, bambino, or “pocket uke”), bass, and contrabass ukuleles.^[41] Other types of ukuleles include banjo ukuleles and electric ukuleles. Of the standard ukuleles, the soprano, often called “standard” in Hawaii, is the second smallest and was the original size.

The concert size was developed in the 1920s as an enhanced soprano, slightly larger and louder with a deeper tone. Shortly thereafter, the tenor was created, having more volume and a deeper bass tone. The baritone (resembling a smaller tenor guitar) was created in the 1940s, and the contrabass and bass are recent innovations (2010 and 2014, respectively).^[42]^[43]

Related instruments

Ukulele varieties include hybrid instruments such as the guitalele (also called guitarlele), banjo ukulele (also called banjolele), harp ukulele, lap steel ukulele, and the ukelin. It is very common to find ukuleles mixed with other stringed instruments because of the number of strings and the easy playing ability. There is also an electrically amplified variant of the ukulele. The resonator ukulele produces sound by one or more spun aluminum cones (resonators) instead of the wooden soundboard, giving it a distinct and louder tone.

The Tahitian ukulele, another variant, is usually carved from a single piece of wood,^[58] and does not have a hollow soundbox, although the back is open. The Tahitian ukulele generally has eight strings made from fishing line, tuned the same as a Hawaiian ukulele in four courses, although the middle two courses are an octave higher than its Hawaiian cousin.

Inspired by the Tahitian ukulele, there is the Motu Nui variant, from France, which has just four strings made from fishing line and the hole in the back is designed to produce a wah-wah effect.^[^{citation needed}^] Mario Maccaferri invented an automatic chording device for the ukulele, called Chord Master.

Close cousins of the ukulele include the Portuguese forerunners, the cavaquinho (also commonly known as machete or braguinha) and the slightly larger rajão. Other relatives include the Venezuelan cuatro, the Colombian tiple, the timple of the Canary Islands, the Spanish vihuela, the Mexican requinto jarocho, and the Andean charango traditionally made of an armadillo shell. In Indonesia, a similar Portuguese-inspired instrument is the kroncong.^[59]

Audio samples

Ukulele playing

Duration: 33 seconds.0:33

Playing on a ukulele

Henry Kailimai’s hene

Duration: 31 seconds.0:31

A piece being played on a ukulele – 327 kB

Ukulele chords

Duration: 6 seconds.0:06

G♯ minor chord being played on a ukulele – 47 kB

Scale

Duration: 11 seconds.0:11

The C major scale performed on a ukulele

U-Bass

Duration: 23 seconds.0:23

the A major scale performed on a bass ukulele with a felt plectrum (first) and fingers – 293 kB

Problems playing these files? See media help.

And I also copypasted for you from the Portuguese version of the Wikipedia:

Ukulele ou uquelele^[1] (ukulele, /ˈʔu.ku.ˈlɛ.lɛ/, em português: “pulga saltitante”, “presente que veio de muito longe”), é um instrumento musical de cordas (cordofone) originário do estado norte-americano do Havaí tocado pelo uquelelista, inspirado em instrumentos portugueses (machete, braguinha e cavaquinho).

É formado por um corpo oco e chato, em forma de oito, encontrado em vários tamanhos e formas (sopraninho, soprano, concert, tenor, barítono e baixo), tem um braço que possui trastes que o torna um instrumento temperado, composto de quatro cordas (de tripa ou com materiais sintéticos como náilon, nylgut, fluorocarbono),

O uquelele é composto por: mão ou cabeça, casas, braço, trastes, boca, cavalete, corpo, cordas, pestana e tarrachas.

História

O ukulele tem sua origem no século XX, tendo como ancestrais o braguinha, o machete e o rajão, instrumentos levados pelos madeirenses, nomeadamente João Fernandes, quando emigraram para o Havaí para trabalhar no cultivo da cana-de-açúcar naquelas ilhas.

No idioma havaiano, ʻukulele quer dizer, dentre as interpretações possíveis, “pulga saltitante”, por causa do movimento das mãos de quem toca o instrumento. Já na interpretação da rainha Liliʻuokalani, significa “presente que veio de muito longe”, numa referência às origens do instrumento. Outra hipótese é que a palavra ʻukulele seja derivada de ʻūkēkē, um arco musical nativo do Havaí.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Além de ser utilizado na música tradicional havaiana, o ukulele foi bastante utilizado na música popular norte-americana. No pré-Segunda Guerra Mundial, foi utilizado por músicos de vaudeville como Roy Smeck e Cliff Edwards. Por ser portátil e relativamente barato, foi muito popular entre jovens músicos amadores durante a década de 1920, evidenciado pela impressão de diagramas de acorde para o instrumento nas partituras de música popular publicadas na época.

No pós-guerra, Mario Maccaferri produziu em larga escala ukuleles de baixo custo feitos inteiramente de plástico. Muito da sua popularidade foi cultivada pelo apresentador de TV e cantor Arthur Godfrey. Tiny Tim também se tornou um ícone do ukulele ao se apresentar com “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”.

O interesse no ukulele caiu até meados dos anos 90, quando sua popularidade voltou a crescer. O conjunto Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, formado no final dos anos 80, faz versões de músicas pop no ukulele. O músico havaiano Israel Kamakawiwo’ole também ajudou a popularizar o instrumento, especialmente com seu pot-pourri de “Over the Rainbow” e “What a Wonderful World“. George Harrison era um grande apreciador do ukulele, especialmente da sua variedade banjolele, e o utilizou nas gravações de algumas faixas do seu último disco, Brainwashed. Paul McCartney, que utilizou o ukulele na música Ram On, e hoje em seus shows homenageia George Harrison com uma performance de “Something” no seu Gibson tamanho tenor.

Um dos maiores virtuoses do ukulele foi o norte-americano John King (1953–2009), célebre por suas interpretações de obras de Johann Sebastian Bach (como a partita BWV 1006 completa) e pela aplicação da técnica de campanella.^[5]^[6]^[7] King também escreveu sobre a história do instrumento.^[8]^[9]

Atualidade

Destaca-se atualmente o ukulelista e compositor havaiano Jake Shimabukuro (nascido em Honolulu em 1976), que ficou famoso executando a composição de George Harrison intitulada “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. Shimabukuro publicou vários CDs, DVDs e livros, pelos quais recebeu numerosos prêmios.^[10]

A introdução do ukulele no âmbito acadêmico é recente. Em 2023, foi aberto na Itália o primeiro curso de graduação voltado exclusivamente para o instrumento, coordenado pelo ukulelista italiano Giovanni Albini.^[11]

Músicos ukulelistas

No Brasil

O ukulele tem alguma popularidade no Brasil hoje, sendo mais conhecido por causa da banda Beirut. Alguns músicos e conjuntos brasileiros o utilizaram nas composições, como a cantora Marisa Monte, no disco Universo ao Meu Redor, o cantor Tiago Iorc, na música “It’s a Fluke” do cd Zeski, e a A Banda Mais Bonita da Cidade na música Oração, Clarice Falcão, Evandro Mesquita, Lulu Santos, Zeca Baleiro, Tato (Falamansa) e a atriz Carolina Dieckmann. O ukulele também esteve presente em quase todas as músicas da extinta banda TRI.^[12]

Grafia

A grafia exótica do nome do instrumento pode gerar confusões. Já foram registradas diversas variações, sendo a mais comum ukelele. Alguns dicionários de língua portuguesa registram uculele^[13] ^[14] ou uquelele.^[15] ^[16] ^[17] A rigor, a palavra, na língua havaiana, é escrita ʻukulele’, com a letra ʻokina‘ (oclusiva glotal) no início. No entanto, na língua portuguesa, seguindo a grafia americana, na prática convencionou-se escrever sem.

Pronúncia

Na pronunciação na língua havaiana, a palavra é paroxítona,^[18] ^[19] com /E/ abertos^[20] ^[21], ou seja: Ú-ku-LÉ-lé (AFI: [ˈʔukuˈlɛlɛ], X-SAMPA: /”?uku”lElE/). No Brasil, costuma-se pronunciar ukulele como uma palavra oxítona, devido a analogia com palavras de origem africana, como maculelê, não relacionada ao instrumento.

Referências

S.A, Priberam Informática. «Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa». Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa. Consultado em 21 de dezembro de 2023
· http://www.unirio.br/ppgm/arquivos/dissertacoes/vinicius-vivas – VIVAS, Vinicius. Dissertação de Mestrado. Rio de Janeiro, UNIRIO, 2015. Seção “Origens, significados, pronúncia e disseminação”, p.9.
·http://www.nalu-music.com/?p=98 – KING, John. How I Learned to Play the ‘Ukulele.
·The History behind the ‘Ūkēkē: The Indigenous Stringed Instrument of Hawai‘i. Consultado em 22 de abril de 2018.
· http://www.jsbach.org/kingpartitano3forunaccompaniedukuleleandotherbaroquemasterpieces.html
· https://repositorio.unesp.br/bitstream/handle/11449/110648/000795959.pdf?sequence=1 – (Seção 1.3.1, p.29)
·http://www.psgoodrich.com/ukulele/Ukulele-MyDogHasFleas-SpiritofAlohaAlohaAir.pdf – John King: “How I Learned to Play ʻUkulele”
·http://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10524/382/JL37007.pdf?sequence=2 – KING, John & TRANQUADA, Jim. A New History of the Origins and Development of the ʻUkulele, 1838—1915. In The Hawaiian Journal of History, vol. 37. 2003.
·http://nalu-music.com/?cat=4 – Textos em inglês sobre história do ukulele, por John King.
·https://www.jakeshimabukuro.com/home/
·«World’s First Ukulele Bachelor’s Degree Program Begins in Italy». Ukulele Magazine (em inglês). 29 de fevereiro de 2024. Consultado em 21 de junho de 2024
· https://semanadoukulele.com.br/8-cantores-brasileiros-que-tocam-ukulele-os-mais-famosos/
· https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uculele
· BORBA, Tomás & GRAÇA, Fernando Lopes. Dicionário de música (ilustrado). Lisboa: Edições Cosmos, 1963. 2.º tomo: I-Z, p.157. (Verbete Machete).
· Academia Brasileira de Letras. Vocabulário Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa, quinta edição, 2009. http://www.academia.org.br/nossa-lingua/busca-no-vocabulario – uquelele (Consultado em 21 de abril de 2018).
· https://www.dicio.com.br/uquelele/ – Dicio, Dicionário Online de Português. Consultado em 21 de abril de 2018.
· https://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/uquelele – Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa. Verbete uquelele. Consultado em 21 de abril de 2018.
· Ulukau. Hawaiian Dictionaries. Hwn Dict/Māmaka.
·Ulukau. Hawaiian Dictionaries. Parker Dictionary.
·To-Hawaii.com. Hawaiian Dictionary: A brief Hawaiian dictionary.

When short /e/ is stressed it is lowered to [ɛ]. In a sequence of two or more syllables with /e/, unstressed /e/ can also be lowered to [ɛ] but it is otherwise [e]. For example, ʻeleʻele (‘black’) is pronounced [ˈʔɛlɛ.ʔɛlɛ].

Wikipédia em inglês – Hawaiian phonology: Monophthongs. (Consultado em 22 de abril de 2018).