The Portuguese cavaquinho (minhoto or urban) - a small string instrument with four metal strings, a shallow scale of twelve frets at the level of the top, and played by strumming and/or striking all the strings that compose it - is still a great source of interest for scholars and enthusiasts due to its vast influence and undefined origin.
The truth is that even today this simple and ancestral instrument is a prominent presence in the global musical and artistic landscape.
In a pluralistic era where the music of the world is widely expressed, it is impossible not to mention the close relationship of this instrument with the Cape Verdean cavaquinho or the Hawaiian ukulele.
It is firmly believed, however, that this cheerful wooden instrument was born Portuguese and minhoto, certainly with strong Greco-Latin influences from other Arabic versions that date back to the time of the Muslim invasions of the Iberian Peninsula.
All these hybrid and global phenomena make our cavaquinho one of the most mutable, transversal, and permeable instruments to the social environment, transferring to it an ancestry and an extroverted and cheerful character that transport us to a broad and rich bridge from the past to the future.