page_title: Viola caipira
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Viola caipira / Origins
context_page_description: The viola caipira, often simply viola, is a Brazilian ten-string guitar with five courses of strings arranged in pairs. It was introduced in the state of São Paulo, where it is widely played as the basis for the música caipira, a type of folk-country music originating in the caipira country of south-central Brazil.
context_section_description: The origins of the viola caipira are obscure, but evidence suggests it evolved from the vihuela/viola de mano that Spanish and Portuguese settlers took to the new world. It has also similarities with the 5 course baroque guitar, that elsewhere evolved into the modern guitar. It is likely a descendant of one of the many folk guitars that have traditionally been
  played in Portugal. The viola braguesa and viola amarantina, for instance, are two types of ten-string guitars from the north of Portugal, which are closely related to the viola caipira.  
  Some have described the viola caipira as Brazil's national instrument, but others argue that the tambourine-like pandeiro has a stronger claim. The Brazilian Embassy in Washington lists a national flower among the official symbols of Brazil, but no national musical instrument. What is undisputed is that the viola caipira was introduced in São Paulo before the violão, and is the basis for the música caipira, or São Paulo's folk music, as Inezita Barroso states.
caption: Violeiro playing, by Almeida Júnior
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