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Article: Ukulele boom!(2009 NAMM REPORT)
- Article from:
- Music Trades
- Article date:
- March 1, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Music Trades Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A PROMINENTLY PLACED Hawaiian Pavilion at the 1915 Pan Pacific Exhibition in San Francisco initiated the country's first ukulele boom. Intrigued by the exotic island territory (not yet a state), the U.S. populace developed a fascination with all things Hawaiian and ukulele sales quickly surged. In 1918. publisher Leo Feist referred to his Five Minute Ukulele course as a "runaway best seller." The same year Martin Guitar added to its factory in the first of what would be two expansions to keep up with rising uke demand. As quickly as it rose, the interest in the ukulele faded away in the late 1920s. A second uke boom was initiated in the early 50s by Arthur Godfrey, who ...