Whether they strum or pick, players love the ukulele sound

By day, Keldon Ancheta is a freelance animator for websites.

But at night, the 31-year-old puts work aside and engages his passion for the ukulele, the little four-stringed instrument that is growing in popularity.

Ancheta, who has lived in Minnesota off and on for eight years, is a virtuoso on the instrument, which these days is everywhere.

In studios and on stages, folk, indie-rock and other players are expanding the instrument's musical universe.

According to one translation, ukulele means "jumping flea." But for one writer, the name perhaps was inspired by the fast motion of a player's hands.

The modern version of the little four-stringed instrument — which Ancheta pronounces "oo-koo-lay-lay" in native Hawaiian — traces its roots to the islands, where he was born and raised.

In his hometown of Hilo, he said, kids get their hands on ukuleles very early in life.

Ancheta recalls how, as he and his grade school classmates strummed, their instructor, Mr. Miyagi, would add flourishes and ornaments.

"And I'm like, 'I wanna do that,'" Ancheta said. "So I'd always stay at the end of class."

After he learned the basics of the flourish, Ancheta would go home and practice.

Today, he is part of a generation of virtuoso Hawaiian ukulele players who pick more than strum.

The stringed instrument that became the ukulele originated in Portugal, Ancheta said. Immigrants from that country brought it when they came to Hawaii in 1879 to work in the sugar cane fields.

Since then, pickers and strummers have found the instrument attractive because of its lilting sound.

Among its enthusiasts is Twin Cities vocalist Katy Vernon, who turned to the ukulele while in a song writing rut.

Vernon said when she picked up the instrument and learned a batch of chords, it seemed to rewire her brain.

Many of her songs are wistful examinations of life that somehow don't seem so troubling when accompanied by a ukulele.

"You can really pour your heart out," Vernon said. "But it sounds kind of jolly and you can kind of tap your toe and sing along."

This weekend, Vernon and Ancheta appear with other ukulele virtuosos at a uke festival in Minneapolis.

Ancheta quotes his uke idol, Hawaii's Jake Shimabukuro, to explain his passion for the power of the instrument.

"If everyone played ukulele, like, there would be only peace, no wars. What could anger you playing the ukulele, you know?"