Daniel Reed

Daniel Reed is a music historian and the lead editor of Ukulele History (ukulelehistory.info). With over a decade of research into the ukulele's Portuguese roots, Hawaiian adoption, and American popularization, Daniel writes for readers who want the complete story — told simply, accurately, and with a genuine love for the world's happiest instrument.

His work draws on primary sources from the Library of Congress, the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, and the Smithsonian Folkways archive. He has studied the Madeiran machête and rajão firsthand and traced the SS Ravenscrag's 1879 voyage from Portuguese archives.

Daniel holds a Master of Music in Music History from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his thesis examined the cultural exchange between Portuguese immigrants and Native Hawaiians in the 1880s. He is a member of the Society for Ethnomusicology and the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame advisory board.

Beyond academic research, Daniel is an active ukulele performer and educator. He teaches beginner workshops at the annual Ukulele Festival Hawaii and has contributed historical articles to Ukulele Magazine. His goal is to make ukulele history accessible to everyone — from first-time players to seasoned collectors.