rajão
The rajão (machete de rajão) is a 5-stringed instrument from Madeira, Portugal. The instrument traces back to the country's regional folk music, where it is used in folklore dances of Portugal in addition to other stringed instruments from the same region.
Also recorded as rajao
rajão
MatthewVanitas · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Rajão
- Field
- plucked string instrument
- Region
- Portugal
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
The rajão (machete de rajão) is a 5-stringed instrument from Madeira, Portugal. The instrument traces back to the country's regional folk music, where it is used in folklore dances of Portugal in addition to other stringed instruments from the same region.
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Documentary evidence
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wikidata · Q7285748 · wikipedia · Rajão
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Rajão • Background — string • Classification — String instrument • Hornbostel Sachs Desc — Composite chordophone • Developed — Madeira, Portugal • Related — Ukulele, cavaquinho, timple
History
History
There is little information of the origins of the rajão, but it is often associated with traditional folklore dance of Madeira and the origins of the ukulele of Hawaii. As early as 1879, Portuguese immigrants (who also owned business in musical instruments) brought the rajão (as well as a viola and braga) to Hawaii, where it was later given the nickname of the "taro-patch fiddle." The rajão can be known as the "mother of the ukulele."
Construction and tuning
Construction and tuning
The instrument is about 70 centimeters (about 2 feet and 3 inches) in length and can be compared to a guitar with regard to structure and playing technique. On a modern rajão the strings are made of metal. The rajão is tuned to D 4 -G 4 -C 4 -E 4 -A 4, a reentrant tuning with the third string the lowest pitch. When it has 6 strings, the tuning becomes D 4 -G 4 -C 4 -E 4 -A 4 -A 4. The rajão also comes with all five courses doubled, though these are less common.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Portugal
Named but not plotted · 1
rajão is associated with Portugal.
Country
Literature
Literature
Disinformation permeates Castro's reply to Rajão et al
Related instruments
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Johnson, Orme. Musical Instruments of Ancient Hawaii. The Musical Quarterly. 25. 4. 498–506. 1939. 10.1093/mq/XXV.4.498.
- 2.History of the Ukulele. Coolhanduke.com.
- 3.Rajão. Portoguitarra.com. 2014-01-21.
- 4.ATLAS of Plucked Instruments - Europe West. Atlasofpluckedinstruments.com.
- 5.Tranquada, Jim. The Ukulele: A History. University of Hawaii, Honolulu. 41. 2012. 9780824835446.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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