Development

The Hawaiian glee club was born out of the men's quartet founded in 1875 by King Kalakaua and the quartet founded by Queen Lili'uokalani. Both groups sang and played guitar, banjo and the ukulele. At the suggestion of the king, they were finally united. They appeared in 1895 with the Royal Hawaiian Band in the US. They also sang at their first concert in Kansas

to the accompaniment of stringed instruments, chief among which is the ukulele, that much talked off Hawaiian invention.1)

References

  • „The Hawaiian Glee Club“. In: Fort Scott Daily Monitor, 1.11.1895, S. 2

1)
The Junction City Weekly Union 16.11.1895, S. 2