The quijada, charrasca, or jawbone (in English) is an
idiophone
An idiophone is any musical instrument that creates sound primarily by the vibration of the instrument itself, without the use of air flow (as with aerophones), strings (chordophones), membranes (membranophones) or electricity ( electrophone ...
percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
made from the
jawbone of a donkey, horse, mule, or 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
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of portraying racial stereotypes of Afr ...
.
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 Colonial period (a period in a country's history where it was subject to management by a colonial power) may refer to:
Continents
*European colonization of the Americas
* Colonisation of Africa
* Western imperialism in Asia
Countries
* Col ...
.
[ It is believed that it was first introduced in Peru, making it an Afro-Peruvian instrument.
It is a mix of African and indigenous cultures that created an instrument that gained value from the people of Latin America. It is one of the main instruments used by Afro-Peruvian musical ensembles and is used in many other Latin American cultures, like the ]candombe
''Candombe'' is a style of music and dance that originated in Uruguay among the descendants of liberated African slaves. In 2009, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed ''candombe'' in its Rep ...
of Argentina (in Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
it is not used), Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
, the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
, Haiti
Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
, as well as Belizean ''brukdown
Brukdown is a genre of Belizean music. Its best-known performer and innovator, Wilfred Peters is regarded as a Belizean national icon. The word ''brukdown'' may come from ''broken down calypso'', referring to the similarities between brukdown a ...
'', Mexican music by son jarocho, and "Costa Chica" ensembles. An example is
song played
in Oaxaca, Mexico in which the ''quijada'' keeps the beat. The ''quijada de burro'' (''quijada'' made of donkey jaw) is most often used at carnivals and religious festivals.[
]
In popular culture the use of a quijada was shown in a conga dance scene in a 1939 film ("Midnight" starring Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche) beginning at 54:35.
See also
*Latin American music
The music of Latin America refers to music originating from Latin America, namely the Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese-speaking regions of the Americas south of the United States. Latin American music highly incorpor ...
*Vibraslap
The vibraslap is a percussion instrument consisting of a piece of stiff wire (bent into a U-shape) connecting a wooden ball to a hollow box of wood with metal "teeth" inside. The percussionist holds the metal wire in one hand and strikes the ba ...
*Bones (instrument)
The bones, also known as rhythm bones, are a folk instrument that, in their original form, consists of a pair of animal bones, but may also be played on pieces of wood or similar material. Sections of large rib bones and lower leg bones are the ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
A quijadaVideo en Youtube - Jawbone in Cuban music (1933)
Central American and Caribbean percussion instruments
South American percussion instruments
Scraped idiophones
{{Rattle-stub