> Cabral says, that therefore the GP is NOT only a result of the English > connection. > > This idea was stated in the article "As 'guitarras de Alc�cer' e a 'guitarra portuguesa'" by M�rio de Sampayo Ribeiro, Lisbon 1936.
I should mention that some Portuguese people that I've talked to think that the article was politically motivated. Salazar (who had come to power in that year?) had declared the Portuguese guitar the national instrument, and it just wouldn't do to have it be "imported". However, the article does make a convincing case for a continuity between the the 18th-century instrument and its predecessors. It also speaks about the changes in tuning, from the 18th-c. chordal one, to the thirds becoming fourths a little later. Martina, thank you again for the links and information. Doc To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
