In Search of the Wily Taro-Patch Fiddle

August 1st, 2007

A friend of mine was going through his old records and he found this sleeve from an old Edison record that has a brief description of Hawaiian music. It’s actually a pretty accurate and only slightly romanticized history but what caught my eye was the mention of an instrument called the taro-patch fiddle. (Click on the image to enlarge.) From the way the word is used it’s obvious the instrument is not a ukulele and since the sleeve was printed around 1915 it predates the introduction of the 8-stringed ukulele that Martin introduced around 1918 and called the taropatch. This article by Dan Scanlan suggests the taro-patch fiddle was a variation of the rajão, a five-string relative of the braguinha with a larger body. I’ve seen old, pre-1900 photos with musicians holding what look to be five-string ukes, so maybe those are taro-patch fiddles. In this short article by John King, though, he suggests that there were a number of instruments called taro-patch fiddles but he doesn’t describe them. So, what the heck was it?-MJS

Entry Filed under: Ukulele