SPHERICAL RATTLE
Mozambique
Idiophone

This is a simple instrument obtained from two small and very light gourds with a diameter of only a few centimetres. It could be a sort of variation of the maracas obtained from small gourds used by the VENDA populations of Mozambique. In this case, the two carved and painted gourds are tied together in pairs by string made from plant fibre. Inside the gourds, there are dried seeds, small stones and other sonorous material which give a characteristic tonality to each pair of rattles. This kind of sonorous object, made from gourds of all sizes with their relative contents of seeds, pebbles and shells, are practically infinite, at least from the point of view of the variations that can be obtained from the same basic materials. There is practically no African community south of the Sahara that has not produced at least one idiophone of this type.