Rattles & Ratchets

The loudest of our rattles is the Cabasa. "Cabasa" is the Portuguese word for gourd – DAN MOI supplies the customized version in wood and with metal beads. Anyone looking for the traditional design is recommended to check out our Chekere (sometimes also written as Shékere). They consist of a real gourd and a net containing dried seeds. The Chekere is available in large and small sizes. The small Chekere sounds somewhat brighter. The full-bodied sound of the Brazilian Caxixi basket rattle, which is often played together with the Berimbau in the Capoeira, is also based on the gourd: the base of the Caxixi is made from a gourd, as is the DAN MOI Caxixis.

For organic rattle sounds, we recommend seed rattles. DAN MOI offes a variety of rattles from Indonesia for wrists and ankles or to be "taken in the hand". Worthy of particular attention is the rattle made from so-called sea-hearts (or juju beans), the fruits of the tropical "Entada gigas" creeper. A whole range of exciting percussion and effect instruments are also grouped together under the heading "Rattles and shakers"; these include castanets, bell stick, wooden rattles and the Japanese Kokiriko hand clapper. We don't actually have real jawbone rattles (Quijada), but we do have the modern, bone-free version, the Vibraslap made from metal and plastic.