There's an instrument builder near Braga, in the north of Portugal, who was visited by Donovan in the 70's. He was fascinated by the portuguese instruments and purchased a cavaquinho, to, so he said, offer to George Harrison to add to his already large ukulele collection. The builder is called Domingos Machado and, last I heard, is still alive. Though he no longer works, his son carries on the tradition. You can visit them at Tebosa, near Braga, and see their museum. Among a huge collection of strings instruments from all over the world, you can see a photo of Domingos Machado with Donovan.
I'm Portuguese born in Canada-i bought a ukulele 2 years ago, I was in portugal for first time in Sept, why didn't i stop in a music store!! All those guitars are gorgeous!
@@Penfriendrocks thanks for posting the video, completely slipped my mind when i was visiting. Thanks to you i for to see them upfront- I'm so pleased you bought one
@@Penfriendrocks after my trip i decided to get my Portuguese citizen ship card- i was so proud to finally see my roots and meet relatives, got it last week
Investigando más supe que también el rajao, otro instrumento portugués influyó en la creación del ukulele, la afición del rajao es DGCEA ¿se puede ver la similitud no es así? De hecho también leí que los primeros ukuleles eran de 5 cuerdas teniendo la misma afinación. Da la casualidad que hoy en día un guitalele se afina ADGCEA ❤ saludos desde México
Thanks for the video! My family is Portuguese (Azorean) and lived in the Hawaiian Islands before moving to the mainland U.S. I'd seen a cavaquinho in a museum before, but had never heard one played.
I’d argue you still haven’t heard a cavaquinho played 😂🤣 I’m sure they sound really beautiful in the right hands. Thank you for the support, Stephen! xo
Cool video. I'm going through an adventure similar to your's, but in a small town in the mountains of Brazil. I'm learning to play the Ukulele, and have boughten a very, old and cheap concert ukulele while leaning to play it like I'm playing a tenor. Everything is the same while playing a concert except the tone. I like the Low G sound on a tenor, and for some reason I just can't hear it on the old concert. I'll be hear for a year, so I'm still searching for a cheap tenor. This make my stay here even more enjoyable. Thanks for sharing.
Obrigada*, Laura! It's like when I found out Bagpipes originated, not in Scotland, but in Ancient Egypt and I guess more evidence of how this world really rolls 😂🤣 Nothing like a field full of pipers playing at once, something I experienced in Stirling (Scotland) at the end of the Highland games, the same year I saw a Harpsichord Duo at the Edinburgh Festival. Life should be interesting right! Loved the relaxed holiday vibe of the wee Doco and the great soundtrack too, not to mention the natural verb' of the performance space at the end!. * That's the extent of my Portuguese! I 😊
@@Penfriendrocks And the thing is, it's something one feels quite ground and humbled by, then you consider when you say a word or phrase to someone who speaks multiple languages. But, in any event, it's just really great to connect to another human by showing some understanding of their community, culture and space. And if I may share one more story: I found myself in a pub in Edinburgh, where a lovely girl from Germany taught me: Die Faber ist Grun [The colour is Green] Die Faber ist Blau [The colour is Blue] Die Faber ist Gelb [The colour is Yellow] Die Faber is Schwartz [The colour is Black] Die Faber ist Weiss [The Colour is White] And 32 years later I still remember and with the write spelling too, but humbled again by how few words I know in German, let alone construct sentences! 😊 Funny thing, I would have said Obrigado, then my lack of confidence went to Google translate, which went with she/her translation. 😊 As ever forgive my verboseness, but then one of my writing projects [for lack of better expression] is called: 'The book of greetings, gratitude and goodbyes', Ok there are some other words, phrases being added, but mostly its theme is about how, as well from whom, why etc I have learnt these words and opportunities to use them. etc There is so much more to this planet than this 'Indo European' language we call English! 😂🤣 Not to mention the rest of planet earth!
@@davevagg660 I love your long comments, Dave! Here's a handy German phrase for you: Mein luftkissenboot ist voller aale. (I have amused many German gig audiences with that one) Also: In meiner badewanne, bin ich kapitän. There you go, all sorted for German trips :)
Gorgeous video! 😍 Nice to learn about the ukulele and the cavaquinho too. I think I mentioned we had some very disappointing tostas in Sesimbra so I'm glad yours looked a lot better 🥪😅
Thanks for that, Laura. ....My UAS has now meant that I am compelled to add a Cavaquinho to my collection. 🤣🤣 It's on order from a music shop in Paris and should be here in the next few weeks. Can't wait.... I love getting my head round learning another stringed instrument. Keeps the grey matter young! 😜 xx
Such a beautiful video! Fun to learn more about these little string instruments. I have a guitarlele myself (easier to play for me as I already play the guitar). I'm also at the sea at the moment so this was extra fun to watch. Enjoy your holidays!
Oh wonderful - enjoy your adventures! I've never tried a guitarlele but would love to - having to learn yet more chords was a deal breaker for me as you saw 😂 I had a banjolele for a while but it sounded so bad!
@@Penfriendrocks thank you! it was a super nice trip with lots of nature walks, reading, and drawing. one day i'd like to take the guitarlele on a trip but usually i already have too many bags to carry haha. and ooh, a banjolele sounds intriguing though! :)
@@echozines If it had sounded like a banjo I'd have kept it! But I am reluctant to learn loads of different chords so a real banjo is a bit of a waste for me I think :)
@@Penfriendrocks I totally understand and feel the same about trying new string instruments. One of my friends has a banjo and a mandoline too I think so I should just go and try those some time. :-)
Wow!!!! So nice you were curious enough to dig a bit deeper into cavaquinho history. You would find many relative instruments, perhaps the origin of the instrument in Madeira island :) but that's for another road trip. For now I can only wish you could come and share your talents here in town, there would be many that would enjoy to ear you :) (Just for the record - I'm Carlos :) )
Hello again! My favourite museum I ever visited was the musical instrument museum in Brussels, it's fascinating learning how people developed all these cool music-making things :)
What a brilliant video Laura. When you were in the shop I was willing you to get one. (I was actually saying out loud "You'd better buy one, You'd better buy one" to my pc monitor!!) Você vai fazer uma boa apresentação pública na quarta-feira, eu confio? (thanks to google translate) "See" you at the gig.
Really enjoyed that! I love little docu-style vlogs. The instruments in the shop look so pretty! Loved the performance in such a gorgeous setting too 💛
If you think there just too types of cavaquinho tuning you would be amazed XD a cavaquinho teaching book about the cavaquinho from Eurico Cebolo it has like eleven tradicional types of tunings. I gifted a cavaquinho to a australian friend of mine, she is enjoy the experience.
Very cool! Yes the man in the shop told me there were many tunings, but that the ones I mentioned in the video are the main ones. Maybe the starter ones? Such an interesting instrument. Thanks for watching!
@@Penfriendrocks I found strange that he said he had to switch strings since tradicionally they are all the same thickness and the cavaquinho dispite it's size is quite strong
@@Hornyderp Yes I see what you mean! He was saying that if I wanted to do ukulele tuning: G-C-E-A - then that tuning might warp the neck. Makes sense to me - I detune my guitar strings and have to use a different sort of strings than for standard tuning. But maybe it would have been fine if the instrument is strong enough to take it?
@@Penfriendrocks *thinks* I remember someone telling me that the concertina was invented by a man from Gloucestershire, so if you ever decide to take up that instrument, you won't have so far to travel.
The strings on the four string models are the same gauge so changing them to conform to a uke wouldn’t do anything and if you tune it likea uke with the same gauge strings,, the low string will be like a rubber band and the high string will be too tight.
The cavaquinho is featured on this stirring track by the Brazilian grioup Nacao Zumbi: th-cam.com/video/X-agHJe1hAU/w-d-xo.html the former singer Fred04 plays it with the group. Live from Recife in the north east of Brazil.
Thanks Joe! In the video I try two Cavaquinhos in their original tuning before deciding to buy a Portuguese ukulele instead. I wasn't keen on the bright sound in the end, but it's lovely to have a uke that has the traditional Cavaquinho look.
@@Penfriendrocks I see now that they were the originals. Nice that you were able to get this beautiful addition to your collection. And great find for a place to play Seashaken.
Laura, you may find interesting to know about Pepu Gomes work, he is a fellow brazilian guitarrist, that invented the use of the Eletric Cavaquinho, he even played live in Rok in Rio 1985 (check out that line-up!) and was later invited to Megadeth! But actually he has a very distinct sound and blends many brazilian rythims in his compositions, and Megadeth is with another fellow brazillian guitarrist (Kiko Loureiro) anyway. Toughb on sharing that with you, the guy is a Eletric Cavaquinho VIrtuoso for over 40 years, can you believe it? I hope you find it an interesting door to brazillian music, check out Hermeto Pascoal, Sergio Mendes, Tim Maia, Eumir Deodato, Angra, Milton Nascimento, they have such span and variety to their work! :)
There's an instrument builder near Braga, in the north of Portugal, who was visited by Donovan in the 70's. He was fascinated by the portuguese instruments and purchased a cavaquinho, to, so he said, offer to George Harrison to add to his already large ukulele collection. The builder is called Domingos Machado and, last I heard, is still alive. Though he no longer works, his son carries on the tradition. You can visit them at Tebosa, near Braga, and see their museum. Among a huge collection of strings instruments from all over the world, you can see a photo of Domingos Machado with Donovan.
Oh wow this is wonderful to hear about, thank you!
I'm Portuguese born in Canada-i bought a ukulele 2 years ago, I was in portugal for first time in Sept, why didn't i stop in a music store!! All those guitars are gorgeous!
Oh what a wonderful mix of backgrounds - big Canada *and* Portugal fan here :) Thanks for watching my video and saying hi!
@@Penfriendrocks thanks for posting the video, completely slipped my mind when i was visiting. Thanks to you i for to see them upfront- I'm so pleased you bought one
@@Penfriendrocks after my trip i decided to get my Portuguese citizen ship card- i was so proud to finally see my roots and meet relatives, got it last week
@@dsd-downshiftdave8056 oh congratulations!! I only just saw your replies here.
Investigando más supe que también el rajao, otro instrumento portugués influyó en la creación del ukulele, la afición del rajao es DGCEA ¿se puede ver la similitud no es así? De hecho también leí que los primeros ukuleles eran de 5 cuerdas teniendo la misma afinación. Da la casualidad que hoy en día un guitalele se afina ADGCEA ❤ saludos desde México
Oh wow, I love learning more about this! Thank you :) xo
Vicarious travelling... my new best friend 💕
Ah, lovely! Next time you're in Portugal, come see us in Braga!! ❤
Oh I would LOVE to!!
@@Penfriendrocks you’re bragging!
Love Portugal, what a great country.
Yes same here!
@@Penfriendrocks did you say you were driving there? that's not very close :)
@@badscrew4023 It's about 45 minutes drive from Sesimbra :)
@@Penfriendrocks I feel stupid now, was thinking you drove from UK 😅
Thanks for the video! My family is Portuguese (Azorean) and lived in the Hawaiian Islands before moving to the mainland U.S. I'd seen a cavaquinho in a museum before, but had never heard one played.
I’d argue you still haven’t heard a cavaquinho played 😂🤣 I’m sure they sound really beautiful in the right hands.
Thank you for the support, Stephen! xo
This is fab. Love the location you chose to play Seashaken in. Nice reverb 😊
Thank you! Part natural, part Valhalla plugin :)
Cool video. I'm going through an adventure similar to your's, but in a small town in the mountains of Brazil. I'm learning to play the Ukulele, and have boughten a very, old and cheap concert ukulele while leaning to play it like I'm playing a tenor. Everything is the same while playing a concert except the tone. I like the Low G sound on a tenor, and for some reason I just can't hear it on the old concert. I'll be hear for a year, so I'm still searching for a cheap tenor. This make my stay here even more enjoyable. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching, Ray! Your adventure sounds wonderful, I hope you have a fabulous time.
Obrigada*, Laura!
It's like when I found out Bagpipes originated, not in Scotland, but in Ancient Egypt and I guess more evidence of how this world really rolls 😂🤣
Nothing like a field full of pipers playing at once, something I experienced in Stirling (Scotland) at the end of the Highland games, the same year I saw a Harpsichord Duo at the Edinburgh Festival. Life should be interesting right!
Loved the relaxed holiday vibe of the wee Doco and the great soundtrack too, not to mention the natural verb' of the performance space at the end!.
* That's the extent of my Portuguese! I 😊
Obrigada Dave! * ps if you identify as male it's obrigado :)
@@Penfriendrocks you are right on both accounts, I have so much to learn...about typing
😊 Its like Bella and Bello etc, but one word at a time!
@@davevagg660 Oh absolutely. I try to learn a few phrases wherever I go, but I'm sure I'm saying most of it wrong :)
@@Penfriendrocks And the thing is, it's something one feels quite ground and humbled by, then you consider when you say a word or phrase to someone who speaks multiple languages. But, in any event, it's just really great to connect to another human by showing some understanding of their community, culture and space.
And if I may share one more story: I found myself in a pub in Edinburgh, where a lovely girl from Germany taught me:
Die Faber ist Grun [The colour is Green]
Die Faber ist Blau [The colour is Blue]
Die Faber ist Gelb [The colour is Yellow]
Die Faber is Schwartz [The colour is Black]
Die Faber ist Weiss [The Colour is White]
And 32 years later I still remember and with the write spelling too, but humbled again by how few words I know in German, let alone construct sentences! 😊
Funny thing, I would have said Obrigado, then my lack of confidence went to Google translate, which went with she/her translation. 😊
As ever forgive my verboseness, but then one of my writing projects [for lack of better expression] is called: 'The book of greetings, gratitude and goodbyes', Ok there are some other words, phrases being added, but mostly its theme is about how, as well from whom, why etc I have learnt these words and opportunities to use them. etc There is so much more to this planet than this 'Indo European' language we call English! 😂🤣 Not to mention the rest of planet earth!
@@davevagg660 I love your long comments, Dave! Here's a handy German phrase for you:
Mein luftkissenboot ist voller aale. (I have amused many German gig audiences with that one)
Also:
In meiner badewanne, bin ich kapitän.
There you go, all sorted for German trips :)
Beautiful story and video!
That was lovely *and* informative! Thank you!
Thanks for watching, Stephen!
Gorgeous video! 😍 Nice to learn about the ukulele and the cavaquinho too. I think I mentioned we had some very disappointing tostas in Sesimbra so I'm glad yours looked a lot better 🥪😅
Oh yeah! Regina is such a lovely person too, we had a lot of fun there :)
Great video, and what a nice tune you play & sing. Thank you.
Thank you!
What a lovely, life affirming video. Thank you for this ray of sunshine 🌞
Thank you for *this* ray of sunshine, Stu!
Thanks for that, Laura. ....My UAS has now meant that I am compelled to add a Cavaquinho to my collection. 🤣🤣 It's on order from a music shop in Paris and should be here in the next few weeks. Can't wait.... I love getting my head round learning another stringed instrument. Keeps the grey matter young! 😜 xx
Oh wow, I'm excited for you!!!
Such a beautiful video! Fun to learn more about these little string instruments. I have a guitarlele myself (easier to play for me as I already play the guitar). I'm also at the sea at the moment so this was extra fun to watch. Enjoy your holidays!
Oh wonderful - enjoy your adventures! I've never tried a guitarlele but would love to - having to learn yet more chords was a deal breaker for me as you saw 😂 I had a banjolele for a while but it sounded so bad!
@@Penfriendrocks thank you! it was a super nice trip with lots of nature walks, reading, and drawing. one day i'd like to take the guitarlele on a trip but usually i already have too many bags to carry haha. and ooh, a banjolele sounds intriguing though! :)
@@echozines If it had sounded like a banjo I'd have kept it! But I am reluctant to learn loads of different chords so a real banjo is a bit of a waste for me I think :)
@@Penfriendrocks I totally understand and feel the same about trying new string instruments. One of my friends has a banjo and a mandoline too I think so I should just go and try those some time. :-)
Thank you for this. Love how you play, and you also reminded me how in love I am with Portugal 💜
I love it there so much! Where have you been so far?
@@Penfriendrocks just Lisbon and Porto but enough to want to live there 💜
@@stevewrongpop I would move there tomorrow!
Wow!!!! So nice you were curious enough to dig a bit deeper into cavaquinho history.
You would find many relative instruments, perhaps the origin of the instrument in Madeira island :) but that's for another road trip.
For now I can only wish you could come and share your talents here in town, there would be many that would enjoy to ear you :)
(Just for the record - I'm Carlos :) )
Hello again! My favourite museum I ever visited was the musical instrument museum in Brussels, it's fascinating learning how people developed all these cool music-making things :)
Wonderful, another great video - thanks so much 🙂
Thank *you*!
What a brilliant video Laura. When you were in the shop I was willing you to get one. (I was actually saying out loud "You'd better buy one, You'd better buy one" to my pc monitor!!) Você vai fazer uma boa apresentação pública na quarta-feira, eu confio? (thanks to google translate) "See" you at the gig.
Haha! I couldn't get on board with the Cavaquinho sound but my nre Portuguese ukulele is lovely :) See you soon!
Really enjoyed that! I love little docu-style vlogs. The instruments in the shop look so pretty! Loved the performance in such a gorgeous setting too 💛
Thanks! This was very fun to make. So good to get out of the house!
If you think there just too types of cavaquinho tuning you would be amazed XD a cavaquinho teaching book about the cavaquinho from Eurico Cebolo it has like eleven tradicional types of tunings. I gifted a cavaquinho to a australian friend of mine, she is enjoy the experience.
Very cool! Yes the man in the shop told me there were many tunings, but that the ones I mentioned in the video are the main ones. Maybe the starter ones? Such an interesting instrument. Thanks for watching!
@@Penfriendrocks I found strange that he said he had to switch strings since tradicionally they are all the same thickness and the cavaquinho dispite it's size is quite strong
@@Hornyderp Yes I see what you mean! He was saying that if I wanted to do ukulele tuning: G-C-E-A - then that tuning might warp the neck. Makes sense to me - I detune my guitar strings and have to use a different sort of strings than for standard tuning. But maybe it would have been fine if the instrument is strong enough to take it?
A thoroughly charming video and brilliant to see a running punks hoody making a cameo 🤘🏻❤️
Ha, well spotted - and thanks for watching!
That was great! I'm not sure if I like it better with the uke, or the cavaquinho. I have heard you play it a few times.
I couldn't figure out any chords on the Cavaquinhos in the shop unfortunately, so at the end I'm playing a Portuguese ukulele. Lovely instrument.
Now I'll have to think of an obscure musical fact, in the hope that it will one day inspire you to make a video about it.
Go for it!
@@Penfriendrocks *thinks* I remember someone telling me that the concertina was invented by a man from Gloucestershire, so if you ever decide to take up that instrument, you won't have so far to travel.
The strings on the four string models are the same gauge so changing them to conform to a uke wouldn’t do anything and if you tune it likea uke with the same gauge strings,, the low string will be like a rubber band and the high string will be too tight.
The cavaquinho is featured on this stirring track by the Brazilian grioup Nacao Zumbi: th-cam.com/video/X-agHJe1hAU/w-d-xo.html the former singer Fred04 plays it with the group. Live from Recife in the north east of Brazil.
Very cool - thanks for sharing, John!
@@Penfriendrocks My pleasure, Laura. I have quite a collection of Brazilian rock and Portuguese fado, as well as some Portuguese rock as well.
Fantastic video! Did you try to play the original Cavaquinho before you moved the strings around?
Thanks Joe! In the video I try two Cavaquinhos in their original tuning before deciding to buy a Portuguese ukulele instead. I wasn't keen on the bright sound in the end, but it's lovely to have a uke that has the traditional Cavaquinho look.
@@Penfriendrocks I see now that they were the originals. Nice that you were able to get this beautiful addition to your collection. And great find for a place to play Seashaken.
@@joeagresta3016 Yes! We had no idea that sea-related graffiti was inside the building, it was a very lucky find.
What was the name of the store
Salão Musical de Lisboa - lovely shop!
Laura, you may find interesting to know about Pepu Gomes work, he is a fellow brazilian guitarrist, that invented the use of the Eletric Cavaquinho, he even played live in Rok in Rio 1985 (check out that line-up!) and was later invited to Megadeth! But actually he has a very distinct sound and blends many brazilian rythims in his compositions, and Megadeth is with another fellow brazillian guitarrist (Kiko Loureiro) anyway. Toughb on sharing that with you, the guy is a Eletric Cavaquinho VIrtuoso for over 40 years, can you believe it? I hope you find it an interesting door to brazillian music, check out Hermeto Pascoal, Sergio Mendes, Tim Maia, Eumir Deodato, Angra, Milton Nascimento, they have such span and variety to their work! :)
Oh wow, thank you for all this great info! I will listen xo