güiro

{{Distinguish|Güero (disambiguation){{!}}Güero}}

{{Infobox instrument

|name=Güiro

|names=Güira, rascador, güícharo (Puerto Rican, made from plastic), candungo, carracho, rayo

|image=Phoenix-Musical Instrument Museum-Puerto Rican Güiro.jpg

|image_capt=Puerto Rican güiro on display in the Musical Instrument Museum of Phoenix

|background=percussion

|classification=Idiophone, can be made from wood, gourd, metal, plastic or fiberglass

|hornbostel_sachs=112.23

|hornbostel_sachs_desc=Scraped idiophone, vessel

|range=Speed of scrape produces some variation

}}

{{Listen|filename=Guiro.ogg|title=Modern Güiro|description=Sounds of the güiro|filesize=280 KB}}

The güiro ({{IPA|es|ˈɡwiɾo}}) is a percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines (see photo) along the notches to produce a ratchet sound.

The güiro is commonly used in Cuban, Puerto Rican, and other forms of Latin American music, and plays a key role in the typical rhythm section of important genres like son, trova and salsa. Playing the güiro usually requires both long and short sounds, made by scraping up and down in long or short strokes.{{cite book|editor1-last=Shepherd|editor1-first=John|title=Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume II: Performance and Production|date=2003|publisher=Continuum|location=London, UK|pages=372–373|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pJvzEzjahkQC|isbn=9780826463227}}

The güiro, like the maracas, is often played by a singer. It is closely related to the Cuban guayo, Dominican güira, and Haitian graj which are made of metal. Other instruments similar to the güiro are the Colombian guacharaca, the Brazilian reco-reco, the Cabo Verdean ferrinho, the quijada (cow jawbone) and the frottoir (French) or fwotwa (French Creole) (washboard).

Etymology

In the Arawakan language, a language of the indigenous people of Latin America and spread throughout the Caribbean spoken by groups such as the Taíno, güiro referred to fruit of the güira and an instrument made from fruit of the güira.{{Cite book|title=Introducción a la historia de la lengua española|last=C.|first=Resnick, Melvyn|date=1981|publisher=Georgetown University Press|isbn=0878400834|location=Washington, D.C.|oclc=7875400}}

Construction and design

The güiro is a notched, hollowed-out gourd.{{cite book|author=Sue Steward|title=Musica!: The Rhythm of Latin America - Salsa, Rumba, Merengue, and More|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=66VX3BFD-egC&pg=PA6|access-date=16 April 2013|date=1 October 1999|publisher=Chronicle Books|isbn=978-0-8118-2566-5|pages=6–}} Often, the calabash gourd is used.{{cite book|title=The Mexican Revolution: A Brief History With Documents|last1=Wasserman|first1=Mark|date=2012|publisher=Bedford/St.Martin's|location=Boston|pages=11, 12, 63, 69, 112, 121}} The güiro is made by carving parallel circular stripes along the shorter section of the elongated gourd. Today, many güiros are made of wood or fiberglass.{{Cite web|url=http://0-www.oxfordmusiconline.com.dewey2.library.denison.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/12008?q=guiro&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit|title=Güiro|last=Schechter|first=John|website=Oxford Music Online}}

History

The güiro was adapted from an instrument which originated in South America. The Aztecs produced an early cousin to the güiro, called the omitzicahuastli, which was created from a small bone with serrated notches and was played in the same manner as the güiro.{{Cite journal|last=Russell|first=Craig|date=1998|title=Music: Mesoamerica Through Seventeenth Century|url=http://0-search.credoreference.com.dewey2.library.denison.edu/content/entry/routmex/music_mesoamerica_through_seventeenth_century/0?institutionId=4607|journal=Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society & Culture}} The Taíno people of the Caribbean have been credited with the origins of the güiro.{{Cite book|title=Music of Latin America and the Caribbean|last=Mark.|first=Brill|date=2011|publisher=Prentice Hall|isbn=9780131839441|location=Boston, MA|oclc=653122923}} The Taínos of Dominican Republic, Cuba and Puerto Rico developed the güajey, a long gourd or animal bone with notches, an antecedent of the modern day güiro.{{Cite book|title=Latin Music: Musicians, Genres, and Themes|last=Ríos|first=Kristof|publisher=Greenwood|year=2014|editor-last=Stavans|editor-first=Ilan|location=Santa Barbara|chapter=Puerto Rico}}

Use in music

Across Latin America, the Caribbean, and David Bowie's song "The Man Who Sold the World" , the güiro can be found in a variety of traditional, folk dance music and used in dance ensembles and religious festivals. In the Yucatán Peninsula, the güiro is used in two Mayan dances, the mayapax and the jarana. In Cuba, the güiro is used in the genre danzón. In Puerto Rico, the güiro often associated with the music of the jíbaro and is used in the musical genres of the plena, the seis, and the danza.{{Cite journal|last=Solís|first=Ted|date=1995|title=Jíbaro Image and the Ecology of Hawai'i Puerto Rican Musical Instruments|jstor=780370|journal=Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana|volume=16|issue=2|pages=123–153|doi=10.2307/780370}} In the Caribbean coast, the güiro was used in traditional, folk dance cumbia music and is still used in modern cumbia music. In Panama, the güiro can be found in folk dances such as the merjorana and cumbia.

= Use in classical music =

The güiro is used in classical music both to add Latin American flavor, and also purely for its instrumental qualities.

Examples of compositions including a güiro are Uirapuru by Heitor Villa-Lobos (though the score specifies reco-reco), Latin-American Symphonette by Morton Gould and The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps) by Stravinsky.Karl Peinkofer and Fritz Tannigel, Handbook of Percussion Instruments (Mainz, Germany: Schott, 1976), 154.

Gallery

File:Guiro cubano.jpg|Cuban güiro

File:Modern fibreglass guiro.jpeg|Modern fibreglass Cuban güiro

File:Guiro.jpg|Puerto Rican güiro or güícharo

File:Brazilian güiro, or "reco-reco".jpg|Brazilian reco-reco

File:Guiro Latin percussion.jpg|Güiro for children

File:Guiro9.png|Mexican güiro

File:GüiroMDMB.jpg|Peruvian güiro

References

External links

[http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_602444 Picture and description of a güiro made by the Taínos]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1pxM1nfLtw&t=68s Video demonstrating how to play the güiro] by Bobby Sanabria affiliated with Jazz at Lincoln Center

Category:Central American and Caribbean percussion instruments

Category:Scraped idiophones

Category:Gourd musical instruments

Category:Orchestral percussion instruments

Category:Unpitched percussion instruments

Category:Cuban musical instruments

Category:Panamanian musical instruments

Category:Concert band instruments