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Güira
The güira () is a percussion instrument from the Dominican Republic used as a percussion instrument in merengue, bachata, and to a lesser extent, other genres such as cumbia. It is made of a metal sheet (commonly steel) and played with a stiff brush, thus being similar to the Haitian graj (a perforated metal cylinder scraped with a stick) and the Cuban guayo (metal scraper) and Puerto Rican güiro (gourd scraper). Güira, guayo and güiro all have a function akin to that of the indigenous native maracas or the trap-kit's hi-hat, namely providing a complementary beat. Performers on the güira are referred to as ''güireros'' and in merengue típico ensembles they often co-lead percussion sections along with tambora-playing ''tamboreros'', due to the significance of their African-derived interlocking rhythms in providing a basic musical foundation for dance. Usage The güira is most often found in merengue típico where it serves as one of multiple percussion instruments, ...
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Merengue Music
Merengue is a type of music and dance originating in the Dominican Republic, which has become a very popular genre throughout Latin America, and also in several major cities in the United States with Latino communities. Merengue was inscribed on November 30, 2016 in the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO. Merengue was developed in the middle of the 1800s, originally played with European stringed instruments ( bandurria and guitar). Years later, the stringed instruments were replaced by the accordion, thus conforming, together with the güira and the tambora, the instrumental structure of the typical merengue ensemble. This set, with its three instruments, represents the synthesis of the three cultures that made up the idiosyncrasy of Dominican culture. The European influence is represented by the accordion, the African by the Tambora, which is a two-head drum, and the Taino or aboriginal by the güira. The genre was later promot ...
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Merengue Típico
Merengue típico (also known as merengue cibaeño or colloquially as perico ripiao) is a musical genre of the Dominican Republic, and the oldest style of merengue. Merengue típico is the term preferred by most musicians as it is more respectful and emphasizes the music's traditional nature. The Instruments that are used are the accordion, bass guitar, güira, conga, and tambora (drum). ''Merengue típico'' is the oldest style of merengue still performed today (usually in the Dominican Republic and the United States), its origins dating back to the 1850s. It originated in the rural city of Navarrete (villa bisono), northern valley region around the city of Santiago called the Cibao, resulting in the term "merengue cibaeño". Originally played on the metal scraper called güira, the tambora, and a stringed instrument (usually a guitar or a variant such as the tres). Stringed instruments were replaced with two-row diatonic button accordions when Germans began to travel to the is ...
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Güiro
The güiro () is a Puerto Rican percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines (see photo) along the notches to produce a ratchet sound. The güiro is commonly used in Puerto Rican, Cuban and other forms of Latin American music, and plays a key role in the typical rhythm section of important genres like son, trova and salsa. Playing the güiro usually requires both long and short sounds, made by scraping up and down in long or short strokes. The güiro, like the maracas, is often played by a singer. It is closely related to the Cuban guayo, Dominican güira, and Haitian graj which are made of metal. Other instruments similar to the güiro are the Colombian guacharaca, the Brazilian reco-reco, the quijada (cow jawbone) and the frottoir (French) or fwotwa (French Creole) ( washboard). Etymology In the Arawakan language, a language of the indigenous people of Latin America and ...
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Bachata (music)
Bachata is a genre of music that originated in the Dominican Republic in the 20th century. It is a fusion of southwestern European influences, mainly Spanish guitar music, with indigenous Taino and Sub Saharan African musical elements, representative of the cultural diversity of the Dominican population. The first recorded compositions of bachata was done by José Manuel Calderón in 1962 ("Borracho de amor") from the Dominican Republic. Bachata originates from bolero and son (and later, from the mid-1980s, merengue). The original term used to name the genre was ''amargue'' ("bitterness", "bitter music" or "blues music"), until the mood-neutral term ''bachata'' became popular. The form of dance, bachata, also developed with the music.Pacini Hernandez, Deborah"Brief history of Bachata" ''Bachata, A social history of a Dominican popular music'', 1995, Temple University Press. Retrieved on December 4, 2008 Bachata arose in the poor and working class areas of the country. Du ...
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Guayo
The guayo or ralladera is a metal scraper used as a percussion instrument in traditional styles of Cuban music such as changüí, predecessor of son cubano. Largely replaced by the güiro (gourd scraper) during the 20th century, the guayo is now rare. In the Dominican Republic, the güira, a similar metal scraper used in merengue, is sometimes called guayo. In contrast to Cuba, güiras replaced güiros in the early 20th century. In changüí The guayo survives in Cuba almost exclusively as part of changüí performances in the eastern regions of the country (formerly known as the Oriente Province). It is one of the five instruments played in the genre together with the maracas, botija or marímbula, bongo, and tres. Guayos consist of a cylindrical metal sheet with a cheese grater surface which is scraped with a metal rod or bone. Notable guayo players include Santiago Reyes "Chago Guayo", Carlos Borromeo Planche "Cambrón" and José Andrés Rodríguez Ramírez, all of which we ...
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Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with Haiti, making Hispaniola one of only two Caribbean islands, along with Saint Martin, that is shared by two sovereign states. The Dominican Republic is the second-largest nation in the Antilles by area (after Cuba) at , and third-largest by population, with approximately 10.7 million people (2022 est.), down from 10.8 million in 2020, of whom approximately 3.3 million live in the metropolitan area of Santo Domingo, the capital city. The official language of the country is Spanish. The native Taíno people had inhabited Hispaniola before the arrival of Europeans, dividing it into five chiefdoms. They had constructed an advanced farming and hunting society, and were in the process of becoming an organized civilization. The Taínos also ...
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Percussion Instrument
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excluding zoomusicological instruments and the human voice, the percussion family is believed to include the oldest musical instruments.'' The Oxford Companion to Music'', 10th edition, p.775, In spite of being a very common term to designate instruments, and to relate them to their players, the percussionists, percussion is not a systematic classificatory category of instruments, as described by the scientific field of organology. It is shown below that percussion instruments may belong to the organological classes of ideophone, membranophone, aerophone and cordophone. The percussion section of an orchestra most commonly contains instruments such as the timpani, snare drum, bass drum, tambourine, belonging to the membranophones, an ...
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Jawbone (instrument)
The quijada, charrasca, or jawbone (in English), is an idiophone percussion instrument made from the jawbone of a donkey, horse or mule cattle, producing a powerful buzzing sound. The jawbone is cleaned of tissue and dried to make the teeth loose and act as a rattle. It is used in music in most of Latin America, including Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Cuba. It was also historically used in the early American minstrel show. Technique To play it, a musician holds one end in one hand and strikes the other with either a stick or their hand; this causes the teeth to rattle against the bone creating a loud, untuned sound, specific to this instrument. The stick can also be pulled along the teeth which act as a rasp. These ingredients provide the basis for a wide variety of combinations and rhythms. Historical and cultural content While it is used in most of Latin America, the quijada originated from the Africans that were brought to the Americas during the colonial era. I ...
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Pambiche
Pambiche is a Dominican music genre and dance form derived from merengue típico, the traditional style of merengue. It has a slower tempo than standard merengue and its tambora rhythm is based on the cinquillo. This style of merengue was originally known as ''merengue estilo yanqui'' (yankee-style merengue) or "Palm Beach one step", from which the term ''pambiche'' stems (corruption of "Palm Beach"). It is said to have originated from the americanized versions of merengue that the US military personnel performed during the occupation of the Dominican Republic. It is considered one of the most difficult americanized Latin American dances. Recordings Dominican accordionist El Prodigio released an album entitled ''Pambiche Meets Jazz'' in which he combined traditional merengue rhythms (most of the songs featuring pambiche) with American music styles such as jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in th ...
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Reco-reco
The reco-reco (also called the raspador, caracaxá or querequexé) is a scraper of African origin used as a percussion instrument in Brazilian music,ROCCA, Edgar Nunes "Bituca", ''Escola Brasileira de Música: Uma visão Brasileira no ensino da música e seus instrumentos de percussão 1''. Rio de Janeiro: Europa, EBM, 1986 but also in many Latin American countries, where it is known as güiro, güira, guayo and guacharaca. Traditionally, the reco-reco was made from a sawtooth notched cylindrical body made of bamboo or wood, and played with a wooden stick. The instrument is used in many styles of Brazilian music, such as samba and related genres. For some time, reco-recos have been made of a metallic cylinder with springs attached and played with a metal stick, which results in a much louder sound. In some models, the sound box has a hole on the bottom part, which can be covered with the hand to achieve different timbral possibilities. Nowadays, reco-recos have also been made out ...
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