The cavaquinho (pronounced [kavɐˈkiɲu] in Portuguese) is a small string instrument of the European guitar family with four wire or gut strings. It is also called machimbo, machim, machete (in the Portuguese Atlantic islands), manchete or marchete, braguinha or braguinho, or cavaco.

The most common tuning is D-G-B-D (from lower to higher pitches); other tunings include D-A-B-E (Portuguese ancient tuning, made popular by Júlio Pereira) and G-G-B-D and A-A-C#-E. Guitarists often use D-G-B-E tuning to emulate the highest four strings of the guitar. The G-C-E-A tuning is sometimes used to emulate the soprano/tenor ukulele, an instrument developed from the cavaquinhos brought to Hawai'i by Portuguese immigrants in the late 19th century. A cavaquinho player is called a cavaquista.

The origins of this Portuguese instrument are not easily found. Gonçalo Sampaio, who explains the survival of Minho region’s archaic and Hellenistic modes by possible Greek influences on the ancient Gallaeci of the region, stresses the link between this instrument and historical Hellenistic tetrachords. The author holds that the cavaquinho and the guitar may have been brought to Braga by the Biscayans.^{[citation needed]}

Seu Jorge (born June 8, 1970; Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈsew ˈʒɔʁʒi]) is a Brazilian musician, singer/songwriter and actor. Born Jorge Mário da Silva, he was raised in a favela in what is now known as the city of Belford Roxo. Belford Roxo is located north of city of Rio de Janeiro in Rio de Janeiro state in the Baixada Fluminense region. Due to its proximity, Belford Roxo is considered part of the larger metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro. He is considered by many a renewer of Brazilian pop samba. Seu Jorge cites samba schools, and American soul singer Stevie Wonder as major musical influences.

As a singer, Seu Jorge was part of the band Farofa Carioca, writing most of the songs of their 1998 debut album Moro no Brasil. In 2001 he released Samba Esporte Fino, a pop album influenced by musicians Jorge Ben Jor, Gilberto Gil, and Milton Nascimento. It was released outside Brazil under the name Carolina in 2003. His second album, the critically acclaimed Cru ("Raw"), was released in 2005. Seu Jorge also recorded the live duo album "Ana & Jorge" with Brazilian singer Ana Carolina, released in Brazil in 2005.

José Bezerra da Silva (b. Feb. 23, 1927, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil - d. Jan 17, 2005, Rio de Janeiro) was a Brazilian samba musician of the partido alto style.

Bezerra da Silva played zabumba as a child and sang coco in Recife. He moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1942, and in 1950, Rádio Clube do Brasil hired him as a session musician. In 1960 he became a member of the Orquestra Copacabana Discos of Sao Paulo, and in the 1970s and 1980s he performed with the Orquestra da TV Globo. He recorded his first singles in 1969, and went on to release 30 albums over the course of his career, charting many hits in his native country. His music often deals with political and social issues, touching on gang violence, the drug trade, and the law.

Bezerra became known for recording sambas from unfamed and marginalized composers, which were often people living in difficulties and dealing with criminal environments, who wrote with sharp irony. The label sambandido (samba + bandit) was sometimes used to refer to his work, and he strongly disliked the word. One of his greatest hits, which was rerecorded several times by various artists, is Malandragem Dá Um Tempo, whose chorus is I'm going to roll, but I won't light it now, an allusion to the efforts marijuana users make in order to avoid the law.