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The cavaco, more commonly known has the cavaquinho, is a Portuguese musical instrument resembling a small guitar with four steel strings. The sound of the instrument is high-pitched and loud. Used first in Portuguese traditional music, 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.
As early as 1879, Portuguese immigrants brought cavacos (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.
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