Pick up the world's first smart ukulele and teach yourself how to play

Centuries before twee Zooey Deschanel lookalikes started strumming YouTube covers of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, a musician named Joao Fernandez hopped off a boat in Honolulu Harbor. The year was 1879, and Fernandez — along with other Portuguese immigrants — just completed a four-month, 12,000-mile journey from the ailing Atlantic island of Madeira to tropical Hawaii. 

Fernandez is said to have celebrated the vessel's arrival by deftly plucking a song on his machête, or pint-sized guitar. According to The Atlantic, a group of Hawaiians who witnessed his performance "were so impressed by his fingerboard prestidigitations that they called the instrument 'ukulele,' which translates to 'jumping flea.'" Read more...

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