Everything Ukulele
A West Orange couple find their rhythm with the ukelele
Sharon Scalora
Article is from Matters Magazine



Tom and Nuni Walsh plucking at home in West Orange.
Tom and Nuni Walsh treasure all things old. They love the old trees that shade their old West Orange home, old records, old sheet music, and an old little instrument, the ukulele, which just happened to be invented by Nuni Walsh's great-grandfather.

"Before I met Tom, I didn't know anyone who knew anything about the ukulele," Nuni Walsh said. "It was the thread that pulled us together."

And together, through seven years of marriage, they have pursued their passion for the ukulele by working on the board of directors of the Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum. A virtual museum founded in 1996 by Tom Walsh and his friend Paul Syphers, the Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum was born out of an intense interest in the history of the ukulele. "Nobody was doing anything to preserve or make available ukulele artifacts, music and information," Walsh said. "We wanted to keep these things from getting lost and also see other people get the same kind of enjoyment out of the ukulele as we do."

To that end, the museum procures unique instruments, early advertising and method books. It raises funds through membership, book and CD sales on its website, and from annual ukulele expos that have evolved from the first one-day festival, which took place in Montague, Mass. in 1996, to a full weekend happening drawing up to 300 attendees.


Nuni's mother and grandmother in hula costume, adorn their walls.
The expos feature the museum's ukulele collection, memorabilia and vendors' wares, as well as hour-long workshops on ukulele building, home recording and ukulele lessons, and a Saturday night concert played by well known ukulele performers who come all the way from California and Hawaii to entertain.

Attendees, who range in age from 20 to 80, also travel long distances, some from as far away as Australia and Israel, to see the likes of Joel Eckhaus and Byron Yasui, head of the music department at the University of Hawaii and an accomplished jazz performer.

The Walshes, who teach at Livingston High School, single-handedly organized the museum's three expos that have taken place in New Jersey: one in April 2000 at the Katz Civic Center in West Orange, and the other two in Montclair at the Women's Club of Upper Montclair.

The West Orange Ukulele Expo sold out to a crowd of more than 150 people. "It was a breakthrough year for the museum," Tom Walsh said. "We went from being a very small novelty act to a much more well known and respected event."


The label inside the uke reads: Manuel Nunes, Guitar Maker and repairer, 219 King Street, Honolulu, Hawaii.
"The best part about an expo is that when the concert is over, people just get together informally and play music until two or three in the morning," Nuni Walsh said. "People think they are the only uke players in the country until they experience an expo. Then they can't wait for the next one. They just love it."

In fact, the Walsh couple feel a special connection to the expos because it was the first expo that entwined the two kindred spirits, who before their meeting dangled like two ends of the same long rope. Each studied science - he in New Jersey and she in Seattle - and found exceptional delight in the ukulele.

When Tom Walsh turned 25, a friend gave him a ukulele for his birthday. It was an odd present, he thought, considering that he had never before played a musical instrument. But, the gift sparked something inexplicable in Tom, prompting him to buy a book and teach himself to play.

At first, Walsh, who grew up in Livingston, was attracted to the ukulele's simplicity. "It wasn't too hard to learn the basic chord patterns," he said. "I enjoyed practicing. It was relaxing and fun, and the portability was a big plus. You can take it anywhere with you."

Once he started strumming, Walsh was hooked. He picked up other ukuleles and method books from antique shops and flea markets and attended Hawaiian festivals until his growing fascination with ukulele history put him in the path of Paul Syphers, the museum and then Nuni.


Nuni Walsh grew up with the ukulele in her northern Virginia home. Her first ukulele chords were taught to her at age six by her mother. Although her mother, sister, and grandmother played earnestly, she didn't take the ukulele seriously. Instead, she took lessons in organ, violin and clarinet.

"I never thought twice about playing the ukulele," Mrs. Walsh said. "My mom always told me how my great-grandfather invented the ukulele and I always thought, wow, woopdy-doo … the ukulele!"

But it didn't take long for Nuni Walsh to appreciate her family history. While doing research in Hawaii for her dissertation on the chemistry of Hawaiian volcanoes, she became aware of her name's significance to the Islanders. "When I told people my name was Nuni, after my great-grandfather Manuel Nunes, they treated me like a celebrity."

Mrs. Walsh's great-grandfather, Manuel Nunes, immigrated to Hawaii from Portugal on August 23, 1879 with two other Portuguese immigrants, Joao Fernandes and Augusto Dias. On the ship, the three played the braguinha, a predecessor of the ukulele.

Soon, as folklore goes, the name ukulele was adopted for this instrument because "uku" in Hawaiian means "jumping flea," and those who saw the first ukulele players were awed at the speed of the musicians' fingers as they flew up and down the fretboard, like a jumping flea.

In 1880, Nunes opened a small shop for manufacturing ukuleles, making Hawaii's first sopranos, or four-string instruments. When his son Leonardo joined him, the business became Nunes & Sons. Nunes died in 1922, but Leonardo continued making ukuleles until the 1930's.

The walls of the Tom and Nuni Walsh's home boast of the family legacy. They own close to 250 ukuleles that they exhibit in several rooms. There are 140 less expensive ukuleles from the 1920s and '30s hung on three full walls of their basement. Their most valuable collection, around 20 prized Nunes ukuleles, graces a wall of the living room. At the heart of this arrangement of heirloom relics, hang two black and white photos, one of Nuni Walsh's mother doing the Hula in a 1940's cellophane skirt, and the other of her grandmother plucking a vintage Leonardo uke.

"Over the last several years there has definitely been a resurgence of interest on the mainland in the ukulele," Tom Walsh explained. "A lot of people have gotten into it, and I like to think that it has something to do with what we've done." As the saying goes, everything old is new again, including a growing local interest in the ukelele.

Sharon Scalora is a freelance writer living in West Orange.

Brought to you by