View source for Güiro

{{Short description|Latin American percussion instrument}}
{{Distinguish|Güero (disambiguation){{!}}Güero|Güira}}
{{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 (Phoenix)|Musical Instrument Museum]] of [[Phoenix, Arizona|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
|related= [[Güira]], [[guayo]], [[guacharaca]], [[reco-reco]], [[Jawbone (instrument)|quijada]], [[washboard (musical instrument)|washboard]], [[vest frottoir]]
}}
{{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 zipper-like [[ratchet (instrument)|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 (music)|son]], [[trova]] and [[salsa music|salsa]]. Playing the güiro usually requires both long and short sounds, made by scraping up and down in long or short strokes.<ref name="JS">{{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}}</ref>

The güiro, like the [[maraca]]s, 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 [[Jawbone (instrument)|quijada]] (cow jawbone) and the frottoir (French) or fwotwa (French Creole) ([[Washboard (musical instrument)|washboard]]).<ref name="JS" />

== Etymology ==
In the [[Arawakan languages|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 [[Crescentia cujete|güira]] and an instrument made from fruit of the güira.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

== Construction and design ==
The güiro is a notched, hollowed-out gourd.<ref name="pee9">{{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–}}</ref> Often, the [[Calabash|calabash gourd]] is used.<ref name=":02">{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0">{{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}}</ref>

== History ==
The güiro was adapted from an instrument which originated in [[South America]]. The [[Aztec]]s 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> The [[Taíno]] people of the Caribbean have been credited with the origins of the güiro.<ref name=":13">{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":23">{{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}}</ref>
Alternatively, the güiro is also believed to have origins in Africa and to have been brought over to Latin American and the Caribbean by African slaves.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pop culture in Latin America and the Caribbean|last=Gackstetter|first=Nichols, Elizabeth|others=Robbins, Timothy R.|isbn=9781610697538|location=Santa Barbara, CA|oclc=919876279|year = 2015}}</ref> Blench (2009) suggests a connection with the scraped [[idiophone]]s of [[Cameroon]] and other regions of West and Central Africa (''see'' [[list of musical instruments of Cameroon]]).<ref>Blench, Roger. 2009. ''[http://www.rogerblench.info/Ethnomusicology/Papers/Africa/Cameroun/Cameroun%20musical%20instruments%20book.pdf A guide to the musical instruments of Cameroun: classification, distribution, history and vernacular names]''. Cambridge: [[Kay Williamson]] Educational Foundation.</ref> The [[Berom people]] of central Nigeria also have scraper or guiro-like instrument called ''gwák'' or ''gwàshák''.<ref name="Berom">Blench, Roger. 2021. ''[https://www.academia.edu/63845806/The_musical_instruments_of_the_Berom_of_Central_Nigeria The musical instruments of the Berom of Central Nigeria]''. Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.</ref>

== Use in music ==
Across Latin America, the Caribbean, the güiro can be found in a variety of traditional, folk dance music and used in dance ensembles and religious festivals.<ref name=":0"/> In the Yucatán Peninsula, the güiro is used in two Mayan dances, the [[:es:Mayapax|mayapax]] and the [[Jarana yucateca|jarana]].<ref name=":13"/> In Cuba, the güiro is used in the genre [[danzón]].<ref name=":13" /> In Puerto Rico, the güiro often associated with the music of the [[Jíbaro (Puerto Rico)|jíbaro]] and is used in the musical genres of the [[plena]], the [[seis]], and the [[danza]].<ref name=":23"/><ref>{{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}}</ref> In the Caribbean coast, the güiro was used in traditional, folk dance [[cumbia]] music and is still used in modern cumbia music.<ref name=":13" /> In Panama, the güiro can be found in folk dances such as the [[Mejoranera|merjorana]] and cumbia.<ref name=":0" />

=== 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 (Villa-Lobos)|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 [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]].<ref>Karl Peinkofer and Fritz Tannigel, Handbook of Percussion Instruments (Mainz, Germany: Schott, 1976), 154.</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Guiro cubano.jpg|[[Cuba]]n güiro
File:Modern fibreglass guiro.jpeg|Modern fibreglass Cuban güiro
File:Guiro.jpg|[[Puerto Rico|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 
</gallery>

==See also==

*[[Guacharaca]]
*[[Guayo]]
*[[Güira]]
*[[Music of Latin America]]
*[[Reco-reco]]
*[[Scratcher (instrument)]]
*'[[Under the Boardwalk]]', an [[United States|American]] [[rock and roll]] song by [[The Drifters]] with a prominent güiro
*'[[Gimme Shelter]]', a song by [[The Rolling Stones]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== 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 for the Performing Arts|Lincoln Center]]

{{Scraped idiophones}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guiro}}
[[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]]