Cavaquinho

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The cavaquinho (pron. /kɐ.vɐ.'ki.ɲu/ in European Portuguese and /ka.va.'ki.ɲu/ in Brazilian Portuguese) is a small string instrument of the European guitar family with four wires or gut strings. It is also called machimbo, machim, machete (in the Portuguese Atlantic islands and Brazil), manchete or marchete, braguinha or braguinho, and cavaco.

The most common tuning is D,G,B,D (from lower to higher pitches); other tunings include G,G,B,D and A,A,C#,E. Guitarists often use D,G,B,E tuning to emulate the first four strings of the guitar.

The origins of this Portuguese instrument are not easily found. Gonçalo Sampaio, who explains the survival of Minho’s archaic and Hellenistic patterns by possible Greek influences on the ancient Gallaeci of the region, stresses the link between this instrument and those historical tetrachords. The author holds that the cavaquinho and the guitar may had been brought to Braga by the Biscayans.

In Spain there is a similar instrument to this Portuguese cavaquinho, belonging to the family of the guitar, called the requinto, which also has four strings, a flat bridge, cover and ten fret wires, whose tune is D-A-C sharp-E from low to high pitches. Jorge Dias believes it was imported from Spain too, where the guitarra, guitarrón, or guitarrico are also found, along with the Italian chitarrino, saying: "Without setting a date for its introduction, we must acknowledge the remarkable honour that the cavaquinho achieved in Minho thanks to traditional music of a popular character, its joyful songs, its lively dances... The cavaquinho, as a rhythmic and harmonic instrument with its own vibrating and cheerful sound, is one of the fittest instruments for accompanying viras, chulas, males, canas-verdes, verdegares, prins."

It is a very important instrument in Brazilian music, especially samba and choro. Its standard tuning is D-G-B-D. Some of the most important players and composers of the instrument's Brazilian incarnation are Waldir Azevedo, Paulinho da Viola, Alceu Maia, Mauro Diniz, and Paulinho Soares. The samba cavaco is the connection between the rhythm and harmony sections, playing the rhythm comping. It's played with a pick, with sophisticated percussive strumming beats, not like the picture above — in fact it looks a little different, more like a small classical guitar, with a round hole.

The cavaquinho is also found in other places where the Portuguese left an imprint, namely Cape Verde and the USA (especially Hawaii), and became an important part of the popular music of those places.

The Hawaiian islands have an instrument similar to the cavaquinho called the ukulele, which is thought to be a development of the cavaquinho, brought to the island by Portuguese immigrants. The Hawaiian ukulele has four strings and a similar shape to the cavaquinho, which was introduced into Hawaii by Augusto Dias, Manuel Nunes, and João Fernandes in 1879.