The cavaquinho (pronounced in Portuguese) is a small Portuguese string instrument in the European guitar family, with four wires or gut strings. More broadly, ''cavaquinho'' is the name of a four-stringed subdivision of the

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

family of instruments. A cavaquinho player is called a ''cavaquista''.

Forms

There are several forms of cavaquinho used in different regions and for different styles of music. Separate varieties are named for Portugal, Braga (''braguinha''), Minho (''minhoto''),

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, Brazil, and

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

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

Portuguese

The Venezuelan concert cuatro is very nearly the same instrument, but somewhat larger.

Cavaquinho Brasileiro, cavaco, and cuatro

The Brazilian cavaquinho is slightly larger than the Portuguese cavaquinho, resembling a small

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

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

and

. The Venezuelan concert cuatro is very nearly the same size and shape, but has its neck laid level with the sound box, like the Portuguese cavaquinho. The cavaco is a smaller version of the Brazilian cavaquinho, similar in size to the Portuguese cavaquinho. It is part of a

samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havin ...

ensemble (see the international section, below). The name ''

cavaco The cavaquinho (pronounced in Portuguese) is a small Portuguese string instrument in the European guitar family, with four wires or gut strings. More broadly, ''cavaquinho'' is the name of a four-stringed subdivision of the lute family of instr ...

'' means “wood splint” in Portuguese – probably back-formed from the original name ''cavaquinho'' (“''little'' wood splint”).

Machete and braguinha

The machete is a steel-string version of the cavaquinho from

. It is a predecessor of the modern ukulele. The ''Machete de Braga'' (“ Braga-style machete”) is called a ''braguinha''.

Minhoto

The minhoto cavaquinho, associated with the Minho region in Portugal is similar to the '' viola braguesa''. Its

neck The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...

is on the same level as the

body Body may refer to: In science * Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space * Body (biology), the physical material of an organism * Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of anima ...

. Like the braguesa, the minhoto's sound hole was traditionally shaped like a stylized

ray (fish) Batoidea is a superorder of cartilaginous fishes, commonly known as rays. They and their close relatives, the sharks, comprise the subclass Elasmobranchii. Rays are the largest group of cartilaginous fishes, with well over 600 species in 26 fa ...

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

Tuning

The most common tuning in Portugal is C G A D (from lower to higher pitches). The standard tuning in Brazil is D G B D. Other tunings include: * D A B E – ''Portuguese ancient'' tuning, made popular by Júlio Pereira * G G B D * A A C E * D G B E – used for solo parts in Brazil * G D A E –

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

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 The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrume ...

International use

Different forms of cavaquinho have been adapted in different regions. Varieties used outside of Iberia are found in Brazil,

Cape-Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

, and

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

Brazil

The ''cavaco'' – a small version of the Brazilian cavaquinho – is a very important instrument in Brazilian

and

choro ''Choro'' (, "cry" or "lament"), also popularly called ''chorinho'' ("little cry" or "little lament"), is an instrumental Brazilian popular music genre which originated in 19th century Rio de Janeiro. Despite its name, the music often has a ...

music. The ''samba cavaco'' 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 Valdir Azevedo or Waldir Azevedo (January 23, 1923 in Rio de Janeiro – September 21, 1980 in São Paulo) was a choro composer, conductor and performer, considered to be the most successful musician of this genre. Azevedo was born in Rio de J ...

, Paulinho da Viola, and

Mauro Diniz Mauro Diniz (born 1952) is a Brazilian professional cavaquinist. He also has a career as a songwriter and singer. Biography Born in 1952 in one of the most traditional neighborhoods of carioca samba, Oswaldo Cruz, at the age of 4 he stayed between ...

Cape Verde

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

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 The mazurka (Polish: ''mazur'' Polish ball dance, one of the five Polish national dances and ''mazurek'' Polish folk dance') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character de ...

) but it is occasionally used as a melodic instrument.

Hawaii

The Hawaiian 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 Hawaiian popular music, which spread to the continental United States in the early 20th century. It was developed from the braguinha and rajão, brought to Hawaii in the late 19th century by Portuguese immigrants from

Madeira Island Madeira is a Portuguese island, and is the largest and most populous of the Madeira Archipelago. It has an area of , including Ilhéu de Agostinho, Ilhéu de São Lourenço, Ilhéu Mole (northwest). As of 2011, Madeira had a total population of ...

. 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 (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. Versions of the iconic

Venezuelan cuatro The cuatro of Venezuela has four single nylon strings, tuned (ad'f#'b). It is similar in shape and tuning to the ukulele, but their character and playing technique are vastly different. It is tuned in a similar fashion to the traditional D tuni ...

are very similar to the Brazilian cavaquinho, with a neck like a Portuguese cavaquinho.

Origins

The origins of this Portuguese instrument are elusive. Author Gonçalo Sampaio holds that the cavaquinho and the guitar may have been brought to Braga by the Biscayans. Sampaio explains Minho region’s archaic and

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

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 In music theory, a tetrachord ( el, τετράχορδoν; lat, tetrachordum) is a series of four notes separated by three intervals. In traditional music theory, a tetrachord always spanned the interval of a perfect fourth, a 4:3 frequency propo ...

References

External links

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