History
The ukulele is a member of the guitar family of instruments; it generally employs four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings. The word 'ukulele' comes from Hawaiian, 'uku' (“flea”) + 'lele' (“jump, jumping”).
Developed in the 1880s, the ukulele is based on several small guitar-like instruments of Portuguese origin, the machete, the Cavaquinho and the Rajao, introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira and Cape Verde. Three immigrants in particular, Madeiran cabinet makers Manuel Nunes, José do Espírito Santo, and Augusto Dias, are generally credited as...
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