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Updated: 2011 May 23, 1606hrs
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Here's some info about the Cavaquinho from Wikipedia.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavaquinho
The cavaquinho (pronounced [kavɐˈkiɲu] in Portuguese) is a small string instrument of the European guitar family with four wire or gut strings. The origins of this Portuguese instrument are not easily found. Gonçalo Sampaio, who explains the survival of Minho region’s archaic and Hellenistic modes by possible Greek influences on the ancient Gallaeci of the region, stresses the link between this instrument and historical Hellenistic tetrachords. The author holds that the cavaquinho and the guitar may have been brought to Braga by the Biscayans. There are different kinds of cavaquinho. The minhoto cavaquinho, associated with the Minho region in Portugal, has the neck on the same level as the body, and the sound hole is usually in the raia format (raia is Portuguese for batoidea). The Brazilian cavaquinho, associated with Brazil, as the cavaquinhos associated with Lisboa and Madeira, differs from the minhoto in that its neck is elevated in relation to the body, and the sound hole is traditionally round; thus it is more akin to the traditional guitar.
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Date of First Entry: 2011 May 23, 1553hrs
Updated: 2011 May 23, 1606hrs
.
Here's some info about the Cavaquinho from Wikipedia.
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavaquinho
The cavaquinho (pronounced [kavɐˈkiɲu] in Portuguese) is a small string instrument of the European guitar family with four wire or gut strings. The origins of this Portuguese instrument are not easily found. Gonçalo Sampaio, who explains the survival of Minho region’s archaic and Hellenistic modes by possible Greek influences on the ancient Gallaeci of the region, stresses the link between this instrument and historical Hellenistic tetrachords. The author holds that the cavaquinho and the guitar may have been brought to Braga by the Biscayans. There are different kinds of cavaquinho. The minhoto cavaquinho, associated with the Minho region in Portugal, has the neck on the same level as the body, and the sound hole is usually in the raia format (raia is Portuguese for batoidea). The Brazilian cavaquinho, associated with Brazil, as the cavaquinhos associated with Lisboa and Madeira, differs from the minhoto in that its neck is elevated in relation to the body, and the sound hole is traditionally round; thus it is more akin to the traditional guitar.
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Date of First Entry: 2011 May 23, 1553hrs
I like this news article because of these key words...
• Rebeca
~ a "rabeca," a violin-like instrument popular in Brazilian culture
• Cavaquinho
~ a "cavaquinho" -- a small, four-stringed guitar
• Alfaia
~ "alfaia", a drum popular in Brazil's northeast which resembles the drums used in 19th-century military marching bands
and for these likes as well...
• "I learned to play with sheet music in church,"
• the fact that it is Green Friendly because of the use of recycled materials.
• The making of musical instruments... if only I am able to do this for a living... among other things...
• In the end, he gets to play the instrument he made.
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| Photo Caption: Young David Rocha has lost count of how many instruments he has made. He is pictured here with a Cavaquinho. |
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Young Brazilian craftsmen rescue indigenous music
Posted : 23 May 2011
SAO PAULO: In a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, the sounds of a fiddle merge with the buzz of an electric saw as apprentice craftsmen build Brazilian folk instruments -- often using wood found in city dumps.
In Sao Miguel Paulista, in the eastern part of this enormous Brazilian city, David Rocha, 20, shows off one of his most recent creations: a "rabeca," a violin-like instrument popular in Brazilian culture.
"I learned to play with sheet music in church," he told AFP.
Rocha is a member of the Tide Setubal Foundation, a community organization which is seeking to rescue the popular culture of a region of modest homes and widespread imigration in the impoverished Brazilian northeast.
To make money, he sells some of the instruments, which are made of wood and scraps collected from the banks of the polluted Tiete river.
With patience and skill, Rocha gently places his hands on the strings of his latest instrument, a "cavaquinho" -- a small, four-stringed guitar -- freshly painted, and made of three native woods: imbuia, known as Brazilian walnut, jacaranda, a blue-flowering tree, and an evergreen tree known as araucaria.
Rocha's rabeca was made with araucaria, imbuia and pau-brasil, a type of Brazilian timber that he took from an old bed.
One of Rocha's guitars was made from a box of imported Norway cod he found one day at the central market in Sao Paolo.
"I find the wood on a vacant lot or on the banks of the Tiete. When it is waterlogged, I take it back to the workshop and let it dry," said Rocha, who has lost count of how many instruments he has made.
Surrounded by handsaws and hammers, Renato Soares, 21, and Caique Aron, 18, are finishing their second "alfaia", a drum popular in Brazil's northeast which resembles the drums used in 19th-century military marching bands. Strips of rope wrapped around the drum's body can be tightened or loosened for tuning.
"It's for the five-year-old brother of a friend of mine," says Soares.
"Since he plays the flute, I promised him I would make him an alfaia, since it makes more noise," said Soares, laughing.
Back at the workshop, the cupboards are full of percussion instruments, both large and small, some with the leather already tanned and cured, others with the original skin. They will be used for music lessons for about 60 children who come to the Foundation for lessons.
Along with his percussion-making skills, Soares is one of the drum instructors. "I like building them," he says, noting how he makes the bright purple and yellow diamonds that decorate the sides of the alfaia with ink, glue and sawdust.
After creating his latest cavaquinho, Rocha must test it out -- and an impromptu samba duo with Soares on the alfaia is the best way to do that.
- AFP
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