With My Little Ukulele In My Hand

The word '“ukulele' is the Hawaiian word for 'jumping flea'. The musical instrument of the same name again derives from Hawaii, where there are a number of popular stories about how the instrument was so named. The most popular one credits Portuguese Joao Fernandes as the man responsible. He arrived in Honolulu in 1879.

The ukulele is an instrument that has appealed to a vast array of assorted musicians. George Harrison had one since childhood and became an avid player and collector of the instrument. Elvis Presley was pictured with ukuleles more than once and in his film Blue Hawaii Fred Tavares and Bennie Lewis both played the instrument on the soundtrack recordings.