Each maraca made from bottle gourd (calabash) is unique and handmade. This natural instrument impresses us with its intense, multi-faceted sound and artistic design.
As the calabash maraca is filled with very small beans, its sound is loud and pointed. This allows you to create wonderful rattling accents and experiment with rustling, swooshing and powerful shaking. You can effortlessly improvise with driving or gentle soundscapes, as the curved, natural gourd shape means the rattle fits smoothly in the hand.
The design of the calabash rattle is as different as each gourd is grown. In accordance with ancient South American Andean tradition, it takes a lengthy process to turn a gourd into an artistically decorated and sonorous maraca. After harvesting, the gourd is carefully dried. The artisans then blacken the light brown surface of the calabash with burning wood. They then engrave motifs from their everyday lives and abstract patterns on the browned calabash. You will find images of the Andean mountain world, such as animals, plants or people, on the maracas.
Children and babies also enjoy the motifs on the calabash maraca. And when they make the rattling noises themselves and gain their first musical experiences with the rhythms, they are beaming with delight. Holistic learning can be that simple.
Traditionally, rattles are used in religious ceremonies in the South American Andes and tend to be played individually. While in the Caribbean it is used in pairs to drive the fiery dance rhythms. Of course, you can also buy two gourd maracas and make them sound Caribbean in pairs.
