Parang Instruments

Instrument

Description

Picture

Bandol or Bandola

This flat-backed lute from Central and South America measures approximately two and a half feet long, and has four double strings. Two of the base strings are made of metal and two of gut, while the four treble strings are all made of gut.

Box bass

This wooden instrument, native to Trinidad, consists of a square or rectangular box about eighteen to twenty inches high with a hole, six inches in diameter, in its centre. A detachable pole is positioned on one corner of the top of the box. From the centre of the box, a string of nylon or jute is attached to the top of the pole. Notes are achieved by varying the angle of the pole and moving the fingers, which depress the string along the pole. The sound is emitted through the hole in the front of the box.

Claves or Tock tock

Originating in Cuba, these two cylindrical hardwood sticks are about eight inches long and an inch in diameter.

Cuatro

An instrument of the guitar family, found in South America and the West Indies. The small cuatro of Venezuela has four strings, traditionally made of gut but nowadays mostly of nylon

Güiro or Scratcher

A percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a wooden stick along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound. It is believed to have originated among the Arawaks, and spread among the peoples of the Caribbean, Central America, and parts of Mexico

Bandolin or Mandolin

One instrument or two? Some Trinidadians consider them to be synonymous, while others claim that the flat-backed version is called the mandolin and the bowl-bodied one is known as the bandolin. They are both small pear-shaped plucked wire-string instruments with four double courses of strings .The round-backed version is sometimes made with the shell of a morocoy (tortoise).

Maracas or Shack-shack

A pair of gourd rattles, most commonly oval. The gourd contains the naturally dried seeds of the fruit. Imitations in wood, wickerwork, Bakelite or metal contain beads, small shot, or similar rattling pieces. In Trinidad and Tobago, maracas are usually made from the fruit of the calabash tree.

Pollitos