The braguinha: the little Madeiran guitar that became the ukulele
How a small four-string guitar from Madeira travelled to Hawaii in 1879 and became the ukulele: the braguinha, the rajão, the three Madeiran cabinetmakers in Honolulu, and where to hear the braguinha on the island today.
This page first appeared on Madeira Blog on 16 February 2011. We have rewritten it with up-to-date information.
In February 2011 this blog introduced the braguinha, the small guitar heard at every Madeiran folk festival. What we did not tell the full story of then is how far it has travelled. Play a ukulele anywhere in the world and you are holding a descendant of an instrument from Madeira.
The braguinha
The braguinha is a small handmade string instrument, about 50 cm long, with four strings. On parts of the island it is also called the machete, machetinho or machete de braga, after the Braga region in northern Portugal where its ancestors came from. It keeps the rhythm and the harmony in Madeiran folk music. It is often played together with:
- the rajão, a slightly larger guitar with five strings;
- the viola de arame, a guitar with steel strings;
- the brinquinho, a pole of small dancing dolls with castanets and bells, shaken to the beat.
From Funchal to Honolulu
In the late 19th century thousands of Madeirans left the island to work on the sugar plantations of Hawaii. On 23 August 1879 the British ship Ravenscrag reached Honolulu after about four months at sea, carrying several hundred people from Madeira. Among them were three cabinetmakers, Manuel Nunes, Augusto Dias and José do Espírito Santo, and the musician João Fernandes. According to the story told in Hawaii, Fernandes was so happy to arrive that he borrowed a braguinha and played on the quay.
Once their plantation contracts were over, the three cabinetmakers opened workshops in Honolulu and began making instruments. By 1889 all three were listed as guitar makers. King Kalākaua and later Queen Liliʻuokalani loved the new sound, and royal patronage made it fashionable.
How it became the ukulele
According to the Regional Directorate of Culture of Madeira, the ukulele combined the small body of the braguinha with the tuning of the first four strings of the rajão. That is why the standard ukulele tuning is “re-entrant”: the fourth string is higher than the third, exactly as on the rajão.
In Hawaii the makers soon switched to local koa wood, and the instrument got its Hawaiian name, usually translated as “jumping flea”. Manuel Nunes later called himself “the inventor of the ukulele”, but the honour is shared by all three craftsmen and by the island they came from.
Hearing the braguinha in Madeira today
- Folk festivals and arraiais. Almost every village festival has a folk group with braguinha, rajão and brinquinho. See what is an arraial and the regional festivities calendar.
- Santana’s folk festival. Each July the Regional Folklore Festival in Santana, known as “24 Horas a Bailar”, brings groups from all over the island together for a day and a night of music and dance. See Santana.
- Funchal. Folk groups perform at the big festivals in the city, from the Flower Festival in spring to the Christmas season. See our events calendar.
In 2019 the Xarabanda music association in Funchal held a festival for the 140th anniversary of the voyage, with ukulele makers from Hawaii.
Handmade braguinhas are still made on the island and make a good souvenir. Ask for an instrument made in Madeira and check where it comes from; cheap imports are common. For more about the island’s past, see the history of Madeira.
Sources: Direção Regional da Cultura, “Braguinha” and “Rajão” in Hawaii, Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum, Manuel Nunes, Ukulele Magazine, when the ukulele as we know it arrived in Hawaii, Visit Funchal, braguinha