The cavaquinho (pronounced in Portuguese) is a small Portuguese string instrument in the European

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

family, with four wires or gut strings. A cavaquinho player is called a ''cavaquista''.

Tuning

A common tuning in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

is C G A D (non-reentrant with C being the lowest pitch, or from lower to higher pitches). The standard tuning in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

is D G B D. Other tunings include: * D A B E – ''Portuguese ancient'' tuning, made popular by Júlio Pereira, reentrant with A being the lowest pitch * G G B D * A A C E * D G B E – used for solo parts in

* G D A E –

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

tuning * G C E A – ‘''cavacolele''’ tuning, the same as the soprano/tenor ukulele * D G B E – the same as the highest four strings in standard guitar tuning, often used by guitarists, and the same tuning used for the baritone ukulele

Forms

There are several forms of cavaquinho used in different regions and for different styles of music. Separate varieties are named for

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

(''braguinha''), Minho (''minhoto''),

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

, and

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

; other forms are the ''braguinha'', ‘''cavacolele''’, cavaco, machete, and ukulele.

Machete and braguinha

The machete is a variety of the cavaquinho from

. It is a predecessor of the modern ukulele. The ''Machete de Braga'' (“

-style machete”) is called a ''braguinha''.

Minhoto

The minhoto cavaquinho, associated with the Minho region in

is similar to the '' viola braguesa''. Its

neck The neck is the part of the body in many vertebrates that connects the head to the torso. It supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that transmit sensory and motor information between the brain and the rest of the body. Addition ...

is on the same level as the body. Like the braguesa, the minhoto's sound hole was traditionally shaped like a stylized

ray (fish) Batomorphi is a division of cartilaginous fishes, commonly known as rays, this taxon is also known as the superorder Batoidea, but the 5th edition of ''Fishes of the World'' classifies it as the division Batomorphi. They and their close relat ...

; the shape is called “''raia''” in Portuguese.

International use

Different forms of cavaquinho have been adapted in different regions. Varieties used outside of

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

are found in

, Cape-Verde, and

. The locally iconic Caribbean region cuatro family and the Hawaiian ukuleles were both adapted from the cavaquinho.

Brazil

The

ian cavaquinho is slightly larger than the Portuguese cavaquinho, resembling a small

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

. Its neck is raised above the level of the sound box, and the sound hole is usually round, like cavaquinhos from

and

. The cavaquinho is a very important instrument in

ian

samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

and choro music. It is played with a pick, with sophisticated percussive strumming beats that connect the rhythm and harmony by playing the rhythm “comping”. Some of the most important players and composers of the Brazilian instrument are Waldir Azevedo, Paulinho da Viola, and Mauro Diniz.

Cape Verde

the cavaquinho was introduced in the 1930s from Brazil. The present-day Cape-Verdean cavaquinho is very similar to the Brazilian one in dimensions and tuning. It is generally used as a rhythmic instrument in Cape-Verdean music genres (such as '' morna'', '' coladeira'', mazurka) but it is occasionally used as a melodic instrument.

Hawaii

The

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

an ukulele also has four strings and a shape similar to the cavaquinho, although tuned differently – usually G C E A. The ukulele is an iconic element of

an popular music, which spread to the continental United States in the early 20th century. It was developed from the braguinha and rajão, brought to

in the late 19th century by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira Island. The ''machete'' was introduced into Hawaii by Augusto Dias, Manuel Nunes, and João Fernandes in 1879, which further influenced the development of the ukulele.

Northern Latin America and the Caribbean

The '' cuatro'' is a family of larger 4-stringed instruments derived from the cavaquinho that are popular in Latin-American countries in and around the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. Versions of the iconic Venezuelan cuatro are very similar to the Brazilian cavaquinho, with a neck laid level with the sound box, like a Portuguese cavaquinho.

Origins

The origins of this Portuguese instrument are elusive. Author Gonçalo Sampaio holds that the cavaquinho and the

may have been brought to

by the

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

ans. Sampaio explains Minho region’s archaic and

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

modes by possible survival of Greek influences on the ancient Gallaeci of the region, and stresses the link between this instrument and historical Hellenistic tetrachords.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Guitar family instruments Brazilian musical instruments Portuguese musical instruments Cape Verdean musical instruments Mozambican musical instruments