Ukulele Friend

Hawaiian Music Archives
‘Ukulele Museum Initiative - ‘Ukulele Education

Ever wonder what it looks like inside of a Hawaiian Kingdom era ‘ukulele? This one was made roughly a 140 years ago by Jose do Espírito Santo. Notice the softwood top - likely fir wood, the thin kerf liner along the edges, the lack of bracing on the soundboard, and no bridge plate.

Minimal restriction for the vibrations over the soundboard and the result is a huge sound. There’s something wonderful to be said about how long these Hawaiian Kingdom era instruments have survived and continue to “sing” even today.

Sharing on a wonderful initiative, aCORDE 2024, an event held in the context of the celebration of the Regional Day of Traditional Madeiran String Instruments.

Please see below for more details. This was provided to me for a submission request for this year. It is an honor to celebrate stringed instruments alongside our Madeiran friends and so many others worldwide. Thank you for including Hawaii and the ‘ukulele into this fantastic celebration!

I’ve attached a sample video of a young musician playing a contemporary Madeiran rajao.

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The Regional Secretariat for Education, Science, and Technology, through the Regional Directorate for Education - Department of Artistic Education Services (DSEA), is organizing aCORDE 2024, an event held in the context of the celebration of the Regional Day of Traditional Madeiran String Instruments, taking place at the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira from February 2 to 6.

The Regional Day of Traditional Madeiran String Instruments was established by the Regional Government of Madeira in February 2019, with February 4 being chosen to honor Carlos Santos, the author of the book "Tocares e cantares da ilha," published in 1937. The designation of a specific day for this theme aims to raise awareness among the population about the importance of preserving and promoting these instruments, reinforce cultural and scientific-pedagogical tourism, consecrate and safeguard the history of traditional Madeiran string instruments, celebrate and motivate artists who create, perform, and compose for these instruments, and defend their origin and the instruments derived from them.

Therefore, the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira is hosting the 7th edition of this initiative, featuring various musical moments performed by school musical groups and invited regional musical groups, the Regional String Instruments Competition, an exhibition of plastic arts related to traditional Madeiran string instruments, social media promotion of videos featuring school musical groups interpreting a theme on string instruments, guided tours for participating students at the Legislative Assembly of RAM, where they will be offered a string instrument learning workshop, and the awarding of trophies to individuals honored in the context of traditional Madeiran string instruments.

aCORDE 2024 will also feature the presence of an invited string instrument player who will conduct an annotated concert on string instruments.

aCORDE 2022 - Rajão Apresentação do Cordofone Tradicional Madeirense RAJÃO pela Lara Nunes, aluna do curso especializado de cordofones madeirenses do Conservatório - Escola Pro...