Miniaturas Contemporâneas para Braguinhas

Description

The braguinha, also historically known as the machete (or machetinho) of Madeira, is a small plucked chordophone that came into use in Portugal in the 18th century. It has a distinctive guitar-like ‘figure-eight’ shaped body, a long neck, and typically four strings tuned D4–G4–B4–D5. This tuning corresponds to the top four strings of the guitar, transposed one octave higher, though with the first string pitched a whole tone lower. It occupies the soprano register within the family of Portuguese hand guitars. The instrument enjoyed popularity across all social classes: it was played by peasants in rural settings but also cherished as a parlor instrument among the nobility—famously, Empress Elisabeth of Austria was among its players. At first glance, its appearance may cause it to be mistaken for a ukulele, the more internationally widespread instrument. In fact, in the broader context of cultural migration, the braguinha’s influence extended far beyond its native island. In August 1879, Portuguese immigrants from Madeira arrived in Hawaii, bringing the braguinha with them, and it quickly inspired the creation of the ukulele. However, the braguinha is not only an instrument of historical and musical importance, but also a symbol of memory and identity for the people of Madeira. As Madeiran musician, journalist, folklorist and braguinha performer Carlos Maria Santos poetically observed in 1937, the braguinha “is, even nowadays, in certain homes, an evocation, indelible nostalgia, the remnants of a dream…”.

In this album we have brought together a collection of recent and newly composed works written exclusively for the braguinha, with the aim of highlighting both the contemporary expressions of its rich heritage and the instrument’s modern expressive possibilities. For this reason, we chose to draw on an original repertoire by living composers from Madeira (Caldeira, Esteireiro, Gonçalves, and Órfão), while also commissioning new works from composers who were approaching the instrument for the very first time (De Iturbe, Ferraresi, Fiammetti, Leung, Nastari, Taccani, and Tramontano). Each was invited to explore the braguinha through the lens of their own aesthetics and compositional language. At the same time, we allowed for the occasional use of the guitar, since the tradition of music for the braguinha has often included it as an accompanying instrument. The project deliberately focuses on extremely short pieces—miniatures, concise and striking—in order to convey, in concentrated form, the widest possible variety of expressions. Finally, it is worth underlining the choice to use, for this album, exclusively braguinhas crafted on the island of Madeira by contemporary luthiers continuing the tradition, as well as an Italian guitar which, although classical, was undoubtedly built with a parlor use in mind.

The album opens with a playful exchange: the two braguinha performers dedicate a piece to one another in the role of composer. My Ricercare takes its title from the Italian verb ‘cercare’ (to search) and reflects the intent to explore the instrument’s technical and expressive possibilities. Pedro Gonçalves’ composition, on the other hand, draws upon the rhythms of the bailinho—Madeira’s most distinctive and popular traditional dance—and blends them with delicate harmonic nuances in an unfolding sequence of sections, almost as variations on the dance’s rhythmic pattern.
The third track is a joint composition by two young Italian composers, Alessandro De Iturbe and Alessandra Ferraresi, written for two braguinha performers. Two composers for two performers: hence the concise and effective title, 2×2. Built entirely on imitation, the piece highlights the different expressive approaches of the two interpreters, playing on instruments with slightly contrasting timbres, so that the result emerges like a playful sonic reflection. Fabian Leung’s Postlude to a Firefly follows, with its evocative delicacy and subtle programmatic nuances. The popular inspiration of the next piece, Graciano Caldeira’s Levada da Serra, is embedded in its title—literally ‘the irrigation channel of the mountain’. Here the words of Carlos Maria Santos and his idea of the braguinha as a voice of evocation find new resonance.
This collection could not be complete without a contribution by Paulo Esteireiro, both composer and braguinha performer, whose prolific and versatile catalogue for the instrument is truly remarkable. His Santo Expedito, Paisagens Marítimas, and Manhã Espirituosa offer a glimpse into the stylistic breadth of the Madeiran musician, ranging from contemporary colours to folk-inspired atmospheres.
Two works by Italian composer Fabrizio Nastari follow: Ludus (a trio) and Trafiletto, for solo braguinha. Trafiletto is presented as a divertissement, intended to showcase the instrument’s varied colors. In the trio for two braguinhas and guitar, Nastari—whose artistic research has long explored the concept of irony in music—seems instead to allude to a kind of parodic instrumental electronic music, with loops, the raw materiality of certain gestures, and polyrhythmic layers that may sound like the outcome of granular synthesis. In the following Ar De Presença, Giorgio Colombo Taccani creates a virtuosic tour de force that leaves the performer breathless. Here, timbres, techniques, and gestures that could be perceived as unsettling when isolated are, in the spirit of the Milanese composer’s aesthetic, re-functionalised into crafted sound worlds, integrated within a rich yet transparent form.
The mysterious allure of Davide Tramontano’s Ph.B – Petite Hommage à la Braguinha leads into the refined sonorities of Emanuele Fiammetti’s Il Viola dei Selciati, another highly evocative work.
The album closes with P8 by Guilherme Órfão, a trio that freely and seamlessly blends elements of jazz and folk music, recalling the atmosphere of the places where this music still thrives today—bars, hotel lounges, restaurants, and the street festivals of Madeira.
Giovanni Albini © 2025