Conocchie
Encyclopedia
The conocchie is a percussion instrument used in the folk music of much of southern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Technically, the instrument is a rattle
Rattle (percussion)
A rattle is a percussion instrument. It consists of a hollow body filled with small uniform solid objects, like sand or nuts. Rhythmical shaking of this instrument produces repetitive, rather dry timbre noises. In some kinds of music, a rattle assumes the role of the metronome, as an alternative to...

and was originally crafted from a shepherd's staff or a distaff used in the craft of spinning. The staff has a permanently attached compartment on the top containing seed rattles. The instrument had ritual fertility significance. Today, such instruments come in many different shapes, all variations of the wooden staff and may be very ornately carved or crafted. It has been used commonly through history.
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