Ukulele
Whenever I hear a ukelele, I remember a song called Blue Hawaii, sung by a young man named Elvis Presley. There was a movie too.
But that was then; this is now. These days, there's a group of young Montreal musicians calling themselves Blue Hawaii. They use female harmonies, moog synthesizers, guitars and drums, but no ukeleles.
"Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii," and the ukes are audible in the background. The instrument comes in four types, all slightly different sizes, the Tenor, Concert, Soprano and Baritone.
According to Curt Sheller, the ukelele was brought to Hawaii by Portuguese labourers in the late 1800s, and the Hawaiians adopted it, and gave it the name we know it by now. In the Hawaiian language, the word ukelele means jumping flea.
Still, there is something charming about this small neat stringed instrument.