Answer:
Explanation:
A ukulele and a machete have a surprising amount in common, actually. Not the knife, mind you, but the Portuguese machete de braga. Back before the Hawaiian Islands were annexed by the United States, it was introduced to by Portuguese immigrants from the island of Madeira. The immigrants celebrated their arrival with traditional folksongs accompanied on a little four-string machete. In two weeks time, the Hawaiian Gazette was reporting about a band of Portuguese musicians delighting people with nightly concerts. Three Portuguese cabinetmakers, probably finding the furniture market not as lucrative as they had hoped, capitalized on the instruments’ new found popularity by opening their own machete stores.
The instrument was eventually redesigned and became the ukulele we are all familiar with. It was made of koa, a native Hawaiian wood long associated with royalty on the islands. This, along with the adoption of the ukulele…show more content…
Novelty ukes became a thing during an era of mass production and Americanization. It was not until the introduction of big band music in the 1930s that this fad ended.
Popularity for the ukulele grew once again in the 1950s, however, with the use of it in radio, television, and movies. It became enormously popular due to its use and immortalization by pop culture icons like Elvis and Marilyn Monroe. This second wave of popularity receded in the 1970s due to the unintimidating instrument’s inability to compete with the guitar as psychedelic rock, heavy metal, and punk gained popularity.
