Cavaco
|
|
The cavaco, more commonly known has the cavaquinho, is a Portuguese musical instrument, from the region of Braga (because of the small size Braguinha - little Braga), resembling a small guitar with four steel strings. The sound of the instrument is high-pitched and loud. In Portugal it became linked with traditional music and became popular in all the regions, Júlio Pereira is seen has the Cavaquinho master. It became an important instrument in Brazilian music, especially samba and choro. The standard tuning is D-G-B-D. Some of the most important players and composers in the instrument's Brazilian incarnation are Waldir Azevedo and Paulinho da Viola. The cavaquinho is also found in other places were the Portuguese made an imprint, namely Cape Verde and USA (especially Hawaii), and also in these it became an important part of the typical music of those places.
As early as 1879, Portuguese immigrants brought cavaquinhos (which were then called braguinhas) to Hawaii, and there a local variant (with less tension and a correspondingly quieter sound) became known as the ukulele.