The Tahitian ukulele (ukarere or Tahitian banjo) is a short-necked

fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical inst ...

ted

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

with eight nylon strings in four doubled courses, native to

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

and played in other regions of

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

. This variant of the older Hawaiian

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

is noted by a higher and thinner sound and an open back, ''The accompanying musical instruments are the guitar and the Tahitian "banjo" ukarere which is different from the Hawaiian 'ukulele in its higher sound and opening on the back of the instrument.'' and is often strummed much faster. The two middle courses are tuned an

octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

higher than they would be on a normal ukulele, and fishing line is used for the strings. It is also tuned similarly to the

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

but shaped like an

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

. The bass Tahitian ukulele is another variant of the Tahitian Ukulele but pitched an octave lower. The Bowed Tahitian Ukulele is similar to Tahitian Ukulele but played with a bow like a violin or viola instead of strumming

Construction

The Tahitian ukulele is significantly different from other ukuleles because it does not have a hollow soundbox. The body (including the head and neck) is usually carved from a single piece of wood, with a wide conical hole bored through the middle. Alternatively Tahitian ukulele can be carved out of three pieces of wood with the sides being made from different woods for decoration. The bowed Tahitian Ukulele is a bowed version of Tahitian ukulele with a

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

bow similar to a bowed guitar. The tapered hole bored through the body is about in diameter on the back; at the front it is about in diameter. The hole is topped with a thin piece of wood, on which the bridge sits, so the instrument works rather like a wood-topped

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

. Indeed, some of these instruments are referred to as Tahitian banjos. The strings are usually made from light-gauge fishing line, usually green in colour (usually around ).

History

The instrument seems to be a relatively recent invention, popular in eastern

, particularly

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

. The instrument is also used in the

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan language, Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan language, North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan language, South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcano, volcanic islands in ...

for pan-Pacific and Tahitian-based music, and in the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

, where it became popular after its 1995 use in a music video by Tahitian band . More recently, it has been used as the lead instrument in the ''

Arrested Development ''Arrested Development'' is an American satire, satirical television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz. It follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family and is presented in a Serial (radio and television), serialized format, inco ...

'' theme tune, played by George Doering.

Current luthiers

* Kaota Puna (New Zealand) * Asonu (Chile) Asonu: Tahitian Ukelele * Tahiti Ukulele (California, United States) TAHITIAN UKULELE

References

External links

Tahitian Ukulele
at Meetup.com
TahitianUkulele.blogspot.com
*{{usurped,

} Ukuleles Polynesian musical instruments Drumhead lutes Tahitian music