| The Ukulele and You! |
Page 1 of 5 This past exhibition is now online. Visit the online exhibition here: http://www.museumofmakingmusic.org/ukulele From August 11, 2007 - January 27, 2008, the Museum of Making Music hosted The Ukulele and You: America’s Enduring Love of the Jumping Flea, a special exhibition dedicated to the history of Hawaii’s versatile instrument. The ukulele () has been an object of affection for well over one hundred years. Promoted as an easy-to-play, portable and fun musical instrument, the ukulele has enjoyed three major waves of popularity on the mainland U.S. Over the last fifteen years, the instrument has been going through a third wave of interest both in Hawaii and on the mainland. Today, more and more players are taking the ukulele into diverse musical directions including rock, jazz, classical and punk. The exhibition also explores how this tiny instrument grabbed the attention of mainland manufacturers in the early 1900s and how they, in turn, promoted it to the general public. Another focus of the show is the connection of the ukulele to larger trends in social history and pop culture and how it became a symbol of romance and good times.
Pieces for this exhibition were drawn from private collections across the country and Hawaii. The Museum of Making Music closely collaborated on this project with Jim Beloff, author of “The Ukulele: A Visual History,” publisher/arranger of the Jumpin’ Jim’s songbook series and his wife Liz Beloff who serve as co-curators of the show as well as catalysts of this project Rick Turner and Barry Pearlman of Renaissance Guitars; historian-musicologist Fred Fallin; and Andy Andrews co-founder of the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz. Other collaborators include Jim Tranquada, Rick McKee, Sandor Nagyszalanczy, Dan Scanlan, Don Stewart and the Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum. |
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