the adaptive nature of brazilian music birthed the samba banjo, which is essentially an american banjo, stripped of one of its five strings and tuned to match the cavaco.

its appearance in the 1970s was in response to the need for a louder string sound in the samba group, and it has remained a staple in the carnival sound ever since.    further, the viola de buriti and the viola de cocho are two examples of the brazilian folkloric contribution to string instrumentation.