[1] The rabeca is thought to have originated in the Entre-Douro-e-Minho region of northern Portugal, especially in the areas around Amarante during the 18th century.

[2] In the Portuguese tradition, the rabeca chuleira is a short-scale variation played in village bands alongside guitars or viola braguesa, drums, triangle and, now occasionally, the gaita transmontana or the galician bagpipe.

[3] In Portugal, the rabeca chuleira (also known as rabeca rabela, chula de Amarante, chula de Penafiel or ramaldeira depending on the region it is played with very little variation) is still widely associated with the people of Minho, Douro Litoral and, to some extent, Beira Litoral.

However, it doesn't have an important popularity in the rest of the country and it has been slowly replaced by the violin in Portuguese folklore.

The Brazilian rabeca, on the other hand, plays in the same range as a violin, but may be tuned in fourths or fifths.