Braguinha

A wooden musical instrument shaped like a small viola (Portuguese wire-strung folk guitar), peculiar to these islands. It has 17 frets and is fitted with 4 gut strings. These are tuned not in fifths, like the violin or the mandolin, as some authors claim, but as follows: D 3, G 3, B 3, D 2, that is, with an interval of a fourth and two of a third. Sometimes, especially in the countryside, the gut first string is replaced by a metal string, which gives it a shrill sound more to the liking of the country player. Its range barely exceeds two octaves, and it can play chords in the keys of G, C, F, D and A, its easiest key being G major. Its high, sprightly and cheerful sound allows it to stand out in a characteristic way among similar instruments. It is used almost exclusively by ordinary people and lends itself to a wide variety of melodies, which are often accompanied by the rajão (Madeiran five-string guitar) and the viola. It forms part of popular musical groups, sometimes taking the main or melodic part in unison with other instruments such as the guitar and the fiddle, and at other times providing a simple accompaniment in chords. When playing a melody, the folk player uses only the thumb. The instrument is, however, capable of greater effect in the hands of a skilled and knowledgeable performer who plays the melody with the thumb and intersperses it with chords of three and four notes struck with the other fingers, which gives the music of this instrument an entirely distinctive character.

The popular expression tocar a ponteado means to play a melody, because in that case, unlike in accompaniments, the player uses most of the frets.

Funchal had several teachers of the braguinha (small Madeiran four-string guitar, ancestor of the ukulele), among them Manuel Cabral, António José Barbosa and Agostinho Martins. Some pieces of music survive in manuscript, as well as the rudiments of the instrument, whose study was pursued with particular fondness by many of the foreigners who in former times called at Madeira.

Some years ago an orchestra of braguinhas, rajões (Madeiran five-string guitar) and violas was formed in Funchal under the direction of Agostinho Martins. Playing popular and even classical music suited to the resources of these instruments, it made a strong impression through the originality and well-constructed nature of its musical arrangements.

Today the braguinha is found in the Sandwich Islands and other parts of the world to which the emigration of the Madeiran tenant farmer (colono, under the colonia contract) has been directed.

Called cavaquinho in Lisbon, it is also known in the Madeira archipelago as the machete (small Madeiran four-stringed guitar) de braga, or simply braga. Although these last names suggest an origin in the Minho, it is certain that there is at present no record of its having been found on the Portuguese mainland. Whether it was imported from other regions or is a Madeiran creation, the expression machete de braga may perhaps indicate that it was once played by common people, of the kind who wore the old breeches called bragas; or by convicts, of the kind who wore a ring on the leg known as a braga; or else by people who rested it against the waist, since braga once meant girdle, fly or waist.

Of all these hypotheses, the first is perhaps the most acceptable. Be that as it may, the question requires extensive study before sound conclusions can be reached.

It should be stressed that the simple name machete formerly belonged to this instrument, as the corresponding manuscript music shows. Today, however, the people use the name machete simply for that other native instrument, the rajão.

The so-called requinta de braga, modelled entirely on the braguinha, is still made in Funchal.