the lyrical ukelele in film and television

i was watching an episode of television and the 'lyrical' conclusion to an episode wass accompanied by a wistful melody played on the ukelele. it occurred to me how ubiquitous this trope is. my questions are -- what's the proximate source? how did it become so widespread? my girlfriend suggests it was the massive, slow-burning popularity of israel kamakawiwo'ole's cover of 'somewhere over the rainbow' that did the trick. do you agree? can you think of especially notable, egregious, or funny examples of this?

Rainbow connection man

That's a banjo.

Uke is more plinky. Banjo more twangy.

...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skU-jBFzXl0

Banjo, ok. I dunno, every Hawaiian scene in anything ever then?

I first started noticing these type of "lyrical conclusions" mentioned circa popularity of Ally McBeal and Dawson's Creek though

use of uke to evoke a feeling of wistful optimism (cheerful nostalgia, w/e) in the current moment does seem tied, in my mind, to israel kamakawiwo'ole's "somewhere over the rainbow", but i'm not sure that's really the source. perhaps that was just the "tipping point," as some say...

iz's "somewhere over the rainbow" is def a huge part of it

love that song, version of, w/e

the story behind that recording is really cool:

http://articles.sfgate.com/2005-03-09/entertainment/17364523_1_mello-opening-words-hope-and-possibility

great story, but even just reading about the dude makes me ;_;

he had a dog bite wound on his leg for over a decade that never healed :(

Israel leans into the microphone, says: "Kay, this one's for Gabby,"

i always thought he was saying something in hawaiian!

i have nothing to add to this thread, but i am eagerly anticipating future developments. i don't watch enough tv, and i don't know anything about film.

xpost: search Gabby Pahinui

watching gabby pahinui youtubes, so nice. never heard the guy before.

the studio version of "Hi'ilawe" is croosh but its not on youtube.

listen to it on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/gabbyband

sorry, no ukulele :(

this kid has been the Ukulele superstar for at least 5 years or so, but I just cant get into him: http://www.myspace.com/officialjakeshimabukuro/

(def back to thread topic tho)

this girl is kind of blowing up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNlopT4JVac

ive worked w/ her before and seen her live a few times and she's way more my style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc7ONjAz6Vc

also this thread shouldnt go much further w/o bringing up:
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/05/136649054/first-listen-eddie-vedder-ukulele-songs
http://i.imgur.com/04wAP.jpg

okay, so love the gabby stuff i've heard, guitar, uke, whatever, all good. basic style is much more familiar than iz's, but maybe just cuz he had a longer run?

taimane and shimabukuro are technique monsters, but agree that taimane's more appealing musically. way she says "ah, i believe you" in the 1st vid reminds me of someone i once loved, dart to the heart.

aw.

gabby's recordings from the 1940s are out of this world--utterly sublime. can't find that early stuff on youtube. not that the later stuff is lacking anything.

i listened to some of this stuff during/after trip to hawaii. a few too many "ukelele virtuosos" doing hendrix covers etc. but also some nice straight-up hawaiian-style pop music that's really nice once you decide to get into it.

cd to get is "Vintage Hawaiian Treasures, Vol. 7: the History of Slack Key Guitar"

(for gabby's early 78s)

but yeah gabby plays guitar. and this thread isn't about hawaiian music, really.

And in real life.