Catalogue information
Circumference widest part 20 cm. . The hand-carved figures resemble Aboriginal style, however, the collection specialist Museum Volkenkunde: indicates that this instrument most likely does not come from Australia or Africa, the images on this musical instrument are more Central or South American. Two examples have been found in the MV collection of (possibly) the same instrument, a guiro or guïri. The guiro sometimes also called guayo after its metal image, is a grating instrument from the Caribbean, mainly Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The instrument is a gourd with parallel notches. The singer of a dance and music ensemble grates over the notches with a stick to create the rhythm for the music. String instruments are usually central to such ensembles, but all kinds of secondary instruments were created to accompany them, mostly percussion. As far as the guiro is concerned, the ensemble conjunto, for example, is important. Besides the piano, guitar and three or four trumpets, bongo, bass and singers, the guiro is played by one of the singers. They make boleros, guarachas and cha-cha-chas. The guiro is also used in the charanga tipica, which in its contemporary form also contains electrical instruments (Olsen et al.,
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