Shekere
Encyclopedia
Sekere
This article is about the musical genre. For the musical instrument, see Shekere.Sekere is a type of traditional Yoruba musical genre that was pioneered and popularized by the one and only "king of sekere," the late Alhaji Alamu Atatalo from Ibadan, Nigeria...
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The shekere is an instrument from West Africa consisting of a dried gourd with beads woven into a net covering the gourd. Throughout the continent there are similar gourd/bead or gourd/seed percussion instruments. Some are the lilolo, axatse (Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
), ushàkà, and chequere. It is predominantly called shekere in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. The Agbe is a gourd drum with cowrie shells and is usually strung with white cotton thread. The Axatse is a small gourd, held by the neck and percussed between hand and leg. In Liberia, the net has a long "tail" through which the beads are manipulated.
The shekere is made from vine gourds that grow on the ground. The shape of the gourd determines the sound of the instrument. A shekere is made by drying the gourd for several months then removing the pulp and seeds. After it is scrubbed, skillful bead work is added as well as colour.
The instrument is used for folkloric as well as some of the popular music. In performance it is shaken and/or hit against the hands.
In Cuba the chekeré (always spelt thus) is also known as aggué (abwe
Abwe
An abwe or chekeré is a musical ensemble of Cuba that uses gourds. It is a product of cabildos, historical congregations of African slaves brought to Cuba....
) or simply guiro
Güiro
The güiro is a Latin-American 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 along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound. The güiro is commonly used in Latin-American music, and plays a key role...
(a word that means 'gourd'). It is a large, hollow gourd (~50cm long) almost surrounded by a network of cords to which many coloured beads are attached. It is of African origin, and is widely used in Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cuban
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
sacred and popular music. It may be twisted, shaken or slapped to produce a subtle variety of effects; musically, it is much more flexible than maracas
Maracás
Maracás is a town and municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.-References:...
.
In Brazil, it is called a xequerê. It consists of a gourd
Gourd
A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term 'gourd' however, can more specifically, refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita or also to their hollow dried out shell...
(cabaça) cut in the middle and then wrapped in a net in which beads or small plastic balls are threaded. The afoxé
Afoxé
The afoxé is an Afro Brazilian musical instrument composed of a gourd wrapped in a net in which beads or small plastic balls are threaded. The instrument is shaken to produce its musical noise.A similar instrument is the xequerê which is larger....
is a similar, smaller instrument.