Skip to content
maraca

File:Maracas.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ39777· pop 48· linked from 940 articles

Also known as maracas

A maraca ( , , ), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. A maraca player in the Spanish language is called a .

Key facts

Instrument.name
Maraca
Instrument.image
Maracas.jpg
Instrument.background
percussion
Instrument.classification
Percussion
Instrument.hornbostel_sachs
112.1
Instrument.hornbostel_sachs_desc
Shaken idiophones or rattles
Instrument.related
Shekere
Instrument.musicians
Machito, Monguito
Instrument.builders
LP Percussion
Instrument.sound sample
File:Maracas.ogg

via Wikipedia infobox

~5 min read

Encyclopedic overview

6 sections
Contents
  • Etymology
  • History
  • Performance
  • Gallery
  • References
  • External links

A maraca ( , , ), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. A maraca player in the Spanish language is called a .

== Etymology == The term maraca is believed to originate from the Guarani word . Other authors, for their part, believe that it is a corruption of the Arabic-origin word mitraqah, used in African countries with a dual meaning of bell and hammer. However, some authors have questioned the Arabic origin, since mitraqah apparently derives from the Spanish word matraca.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “maraca” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (6)