List of Caribbean idiophones

Historically, idiophones (percussion instruments without membranes or strings) have been widespread throughout the Caribbean music area, which encompasses the islands and coasts of the Caribbean Sea. Some areas of South America that are not geographically part of the Caribbean, but are culturally associated with its traditions, such as Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and parts of Brazil are also taken into account.

Although some idiophones such as the mayohuacán and probably the maraca already existed among the indigenous Taíno population of the Greater Antilles before the Spanish colonization of the Americas, most idiophones were introduced in the Caribbean between the 17th and 19th centuries by enslaved Africans, which were ethnically diverse (Yoruba, Ewe, Fon, Igbo, Efik, Mandinka and Kongo, among others). Because of the different materials present in the islands, African slaves had to construct their instruments differently, and thus new instruments began to be developed.

Instrument	Tradition	Hornbostel–Sachs classification	Description
agogô agogó	Lucumí (Cuba) and other Yoruba traditions throughout the Caribbean and Brazil	111.221	Hoe blade, struck with a nail or other heavy object
akanikã	Abakuá (Cuba)	111.242.222	Belt with many attached bells
asson baksor (Note: asson can also refer to the ogan in Northern Haiti)	Haiti	1	Hollow calabash with a hole, which the player plugs during performance, where the stem used to be, covered in beaded webbing
assot	Haiti	1	Wooden board, sometimes attached to a tymbale
assongwé	Arará (Cuba)	112.13	Rattle made of tin, with both ends conical and an attached handle, used by Arará priests
atcheré	Lucumí (Cuba)	112.12	Oblong rattle made from a gourd, and covered with a network of webbing laced with nuts or beads
bakosó arwé-koesolé	Lucumí (Cuba)	112.12	Large rattle made from a calabash, and covered with a network of webbing laced with nuts or beads
banká ekón, ekóng	Abakuá (Cuba)	111.242.121	Metal bell, struck with a wooden stick; the location of the strike determines pitch
bell	Trinidad and Tobago	1	Hand bell, used in the Spiritual Baptist musical tradition
bell, Santería	Lucumí (Cuba)	111.242.121	Bell with an external striker
bench	Trinidad and Tobago	1	Ordinary sitting bench, used spontaneously by banging against the ground in the Spiritual Baptist musical tradition
boli chac-chac, shack-shack, xaque-xaque (Brazil), chacha (Cuba)	Trinidad and Tobago	1	Hollow calabash with a hole, which the player plugs during performance, where the stem used to be, covered in beaded webbing, used in the Shango cult
cajón	Cuba and Puerto Rico	111.2	Wooden box played as a bass drum, with hands held in front of the face, often while sitting on the instrument while playing
cata	Haiti	111.231	Two types of beating tubes: a length of bamboo laid upon two y-shaped sticks in the ground, and a hollow wooden cylinder; both are beaten with sticks
catá	Cuba	111.231	Hollowed out trunk hit with two sticks, used in tumba francesa, yuka and rumba (rare)
cencerro gangária, San Martín (for secular uses only)	Cuba	?	Large cowbell with no clapper, struck on the outside
chekeré abwé	Cuba	1	Hollow calabash with a hole, which the player plugs during performance, where the stem used to be, covered in beaded webbing
claves	Cuba and Haiti	111.1	Cylindrical percussive sticks of African origin, made from hardwood trees like acana, quiebrahacha, guayacán, and granadillo
dentli dentlé	Haiti	112.211	Notched stick played with a bamboo scraping blade
dhantal	Indo-Caribbean Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname	1	Steel rod, adapted from a piece of a yoke and hit with a beater in a horseshoe-shape, used in chutney
door	Cuba	111.221	Normal door, beaten with a hand during yambú performances
double-conical rattle	Cuba	112.13	Double-conical rattle, made of tin and held horizontally, known in Jovellanos
erikunde ericunde	Abakuá (Cuba)	112.13	Tubular rattle with a looping basket-shaped handle, filled with chunks of wood
frying pan	Cuba	111.24	Frying pans harnessed to the torso of the player and struck with spoons, played during conga performances
geared rattle kwa-kwa	Haiti	1	Rattle, used in rara ceremonies
grage	Haiti	112.23	Metal scraper with small, closely spaced holes, played with a piece of wire or nail
guacharaca	Colombia	112.23	Long tube scraper made of wood, used in vallenato and cumbia
guayo	Cuba	112.23	Metal scraper, used in changüí
güira	Dominican Republic	112.23	Metal scraper, used in merengue and bachata
güiro	Cuba, Puerto Rico and the rest of the Caribbean	112.23	Gourd scraper of either Taíno or West African origin
erimé	Cuba	112.13	Set of four rattles attached to a pair of crossed sticks
iron	Surinamese Maroons	111.1	Pieces of any available metal struck together
iron tube, Lucumí	Cuba	111.242.121	Hollow iron tube with a slit along the side, played with an external striker
guataca	Cuba	?	cowbell, played using a striker
jhanj	Trinidad and Tobago	?	Pair of large cymbals
kwa-kwa tcha-tcha, tcha-kwa	Haiti	112.13	Empty gourd filled with seeds; can also refer to the geared rattle
kwakwa	Surinamese maroons	1	Bench with a wooden top, played with two sticks, from a squatting position
maraca shakkas (Garifuna), maruga (Cuba)	Taíno and other tribes (throughout the Caribbean)	112.13	Rattle across the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and Central America, made from a hollow gourd, often a calabash, and filled with dried seeds
marimba	Guatemala and southern Mexico	111.212	Set of wooden bars struck with mallets, descended from the balafon
marimbula marimbol (Mexico)	Cuba, introduced to the Dominican Republic and elsewhere	111.2	Box mounted with metal strips that can be plucked, used as a bass instrument in rural folk genres like changüí
mayohuacán mayohabao, bayohabao	Taíno (Cuba, Hispaniola)	111.231	Slit drum made of thin wood, shaped like an elongated gourd
ogan	Arará (Cuba)	111.242.121	Iron bell, held upside down and struck with a beater; may be used in pairs
ogan asson		111.1	Pieces of chain or other metal struck together
quijada	Cuba	112.122	Jawbone of a mule or donkey, teeth acting as rattles
quinto (cajón)	Cuba	111.2	Box with two sloping sides, tapped with the fingers percussively
rattle	Surinamese Maroons	112.13	Rattle used in both secular and religious purposes, with a specific rhythm for the spirit associated with each ritual
rattle-bracelet	Cuba	112.112	Bracelets with attached nuts and seeds, worn by drummers in the Kimbisa tradition
rumba box	Jamaica	2	Maroon instrument used to accompany social dancing, wooden box with three metal brackets on one side
shak-shak chac-chac, shack-shack, xaque-xaque (Brazil), chacha (Cuba)	Lesser Antilles	1	Rattle, made from a dried gourd, often a calabash, and filled with dried seeds, with a handle attached where the calabash stem had been, not normally decorated or painted, may be placed in a pair
shak-shak	Saint Lucia and other Francophone islands	1	Rattle, made from a pair of tin cans, emptied, then filled with a few loose pebbles and soldered shut
shak-shak	Lesser Antilles	112.13	Improvised rattle, made from a single tin can and a few loose pebbles, often played by children practicing for the use of the more common shak-shak or adults at impromptu occasions
shepherd's crook	Trinidad and Tobago	1	Staff, used spontaneously by banging against the ground in the Spiritual Baptist musical tradition
spoons	Cuba	111.141	Pair of normal spoons beaten together, common in yambú
steelpan steeldrum, tock-tock, belly, base kettle, base bum	Trinidad and Tobago originally, now widespread	111.2	Made from tempered metal drums, tuned chromatically
tamboo-bamboo	Trinidad and Tobago	1	Tuned bamboo stomping tubes, used as a substitute percussion instrument when drums were outlawed
tibwa p'tit bois	French Guiana, Saint Lucia and Martinique	2	Wooden sticks, played against the rim of a ka, or against a bamboo tube or a log sitting on a stand
vaccine bois bourrique	Haiti	111.2	Bamboo trumpet, played as an idiophone by tapping it with sticks
wacharaca matrimonial	Curaçao	1	Metal disks attached to a wooden board

References

• Manuel, Peter (1988). Popular Musics of the Non-Western World: An Introductory Survey. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506334-1.