Image: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 — via Wikimedia Commons
Cabasa
Cabaça
| Category | Percussion |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Afro-Brazilian (with West African origins) |
| Classification | type of musical instrument |
| Wikipedia | en.wikipedia.org |
| Wikidata | Q1024685 |
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Overview
The cabasa (also written cabaça) is an Afro-Brazilian beaded rattle originally constructed from a dried gourd with an external net of beads — typically glass or wooden beads strung on cord — that wraps around the gourd. The Hornbostel-Sachs system files it at 112.1 — a shaken idiophone or rattle. Wikidata classifies it as a vessel rattle and notes its Afro-Brazilian origins.
The instrument exists in two distinct modern forms. The traditional Afro-Brazilian cabaça is a hand-made gourd-and-bead instrument used in capoeira and Afro-Brazilian religious music. The modern Latin-percussion cabasa — designed by Martin Cohen of Latin Percussion in around 1960 — is a manufactured instrument with a metal cylinder body and a chain of steel beads that wraps around the cylinder. The two share the same essential sound-production principle (beads moving across a gourd-or-cylinder body) but differ entirely in materials and construction.
Origin & History
The cabaça is part of the wider African beaded-gourd shaker family that includes the West African shekere (the Yoruba agbe and the wider Mande and Fon equivalents). These instruments were brought to Brazil by enslaved Africans during the colonial period and developed locally in Afro-Brazilian religious and cultural settings — particularly in Bahia, where they became part of the Candomblé liturgy and of capoeira music.
In capoeira the cabaça is one of the supporting instruments of the bateria alongside the lead berimbau and the atabaque. The instrument is shaken to provide a continuous shimmering shaker pattern under the lead rhythmic patterns. In Candomblé ceremony the cabaça (often called xeque-xeque in religious contexts) is similarly used as a supporting shaker instrument.
DBpedia records the development of the modern Latin-percussion cabasa in 1960, attributing the design to Martin Cohen and his newly founded company Latin Percussion. Cohen’s design replaced the gourd body with a wooden cylinder wrapped in a stainless-steel mesh, and replaced the bead-net with a fixed chain of steel beads pressed against the mesh by the player’s hand. The resulting instrument has a much louder, sharper and more consistent sound than the traditional gourd-and-bead cabaça, and is played by holding the wooden handle in one hand and rotating the cylinder against the steel bead chain held in the other hand.
The Latin Percussion cabasa became a standard instrument in 1960s and 1970s Latin jazz, fusion and salsa recordings, and is now manufactured by many percussion companies — Meinl, Toca, LP and others — in a range of sizes from small (8 cm diameter) to large (15 cm). The traditional gourd-and-bead form continues in Afro-Brazilian religious and capoeira contexts and as a folk instrument in Bahia and other Afro-Brazilian regions.
Construction & Materials
The traditional Afro-Brazilian cabaça consists of a dried gourd — typically the calabash Crescentia cujete or Lagenaria gourd — with a small wooden handle inserted through the base, and an external net of beads strung on cord that wraps around the body of the gourd. The beads (traditionally of glass or wood, increasingly of plastic in modern instruments) move freely against the outside surface of the gourd when the instrument is shaken or rotated, producing the characteristic shaker sound.
The modern Latin Percussion cabasa replaces the gourd with a wooden cylinder (typically 10 to 12 cm in diameter and 8 to 10 cm tall) wrapped in a stainless-steel mesh. A chain of steel beads is held in place against the mesh by a separate metal frame, and the entire assembly is mounted on a wooden handle. The player rotates the cylinder against the bead chain rather than shaking the entire instrument.
How It’s Played
The traditional gourd cabaça is played by holding the wooden handle in one hand and shaking or rotating the gourd so that the external bead-net moves against the gourd surface. Idiomatic Brazilian technique includes rapid wrist motions to produce continuous shaker patterns, simultaneous hand-pressure changes to vary the volume, and the use of the free hand to dampen or accent strokes by gripping the bead-net.
The modern Latin Percussion cabasa is played differently. The wooden handle is held in one hand at a fixed position; the cylinder body rests in the palm of the other hand, with the steel-bead chain pressed against the steel-mesh cylinder by the player’s grip. The player rotates the cylinder by twisting the wrist of the holding hand, producing a sharp continuous rolling sound; pressure from the cylinder-holding hand controls volume and texture. Quick stops, accent shakes and pulse-aligned rotations are the principal articulations.
Cultural Significance
In Afro-Brazilian capoeira and Candomblé contexts the traditional gourd cabaça remains part of the surviving West African–Brazilian cultural continuum. The instrument is one of the supporting voices of the capoeira bateria and one of the secondary shakers of Candomblé ceremony. In Bahia, where Afro-Brazilian culture is most concentrated, the cabaça remains a familiar part of street performance, capoeira rodas and religious processions.
The modern Latin Percussion cabasa has had a wider international impact through Latin jazz and popular music. The instrument is heard on countless recordings from the 1960s onward — Stan Getz’s Getz/Gilberto, Sergio Mendes’s Brasil 66 recordings, Earth Wind & Fire’s pop-soul output of the 1970s, and an enormous range of subsequent Latin-influenced popular music. In modern percussion sections it is widely used as a steady-pattern shaker that complements drum-kit and conga work.
Notable Examples & Recordings
- Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66, Equinox — classic late-1960s Brazilian pop with cabasa.
- Earth Wind & Fire, Gratitude — definitive 1970s use of cabasa in pop-soul.
- Tito Puente Latin Ensemble, multiple recordings featuring cabasa in Latin jazz settings.
- Naná Vasconcelos, Saudades — Brazilian percussion virtuoso using both traditional and modern cabasa forms.
- Capoeira Angola Center, recordings of capoeira music with traditional gourd cabaça.
Related Instruments
- Maraca – the closed-vessel rattle of pre-Hispanic Caribbean origin.
- – the larger West African beaded gourd shaker; the African ancestor of the cabasa.
- Chekeré – the Afro-Cuban large beaded gourd shaker.
- – the small Brazilian woven-basket rattle used with the berimbau.
- – the small modern handheld vessel rattle.
Where to Hear It
The traditional Afro-Brazilian cabaça is heard at capoeira rodas in Salvador, Bahia and worldwide, and at Candomblé ceremonies in Bahia and the wider Brazilian diaspora. The modern Latin Percussion cabasa is heard on countless contemporary Latin-jazz, pop and rock recordings; it is a standard instrument in any modern Latin-percussion section. Recordings appear on essentially all major Brazilian and Latin-music labels.
Learning Resources
Latin Percussion (LP), Meinl, Toca, Pearl and other major percussion manufacturers each produce cabasas at student and professional grades. A serviceable LP cabasa costs around 30 to 60 USD; concert-grade instruments run from 80 to 200 USD. Method books include Birger Sulsbrück’s Latin-American Percussion and the Brazilian Percussion Handbook of Vince Cherico. Capoeira-tradition cabaça playing is taught informally within capoeira schools rather than through formal pedagogy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a cabasa?
An Afro-Brazilian beaded rattle. The traditional form is a gourd with an external bead-net wrapping around it; the modern Latin Percussion form is a metal-cylinder body with a steel-bead chain held against a steel mesh.
What is the difference between a cabasa and a shekere?
Both are beaded gourd shakers from the same broader African tradition. The shekere is typically larger, has a more loosely strung bead-net and is often shaken whole-body; the cabasa is smaller and has a tighter bead-net pattern and is often rotated rather than shaken.
Who invented the modern metal cabasa?
Martin Cohen of Latin Percussion designed the modern metal-mesh-and-chain cabasa in around 1960. The redesign replaced the gourd body with a wooden cylinder wrapped in stainless-steel mesh, providing a louder and more consistent sound for studio and stage use.
What kind of music is the cabasa used for?
Capoeira and Afro-Brazilian religious music (the traditional gourd form); Latin jazz, salsa, samba, bossa nova and a wide range of Latin-influenced popular music (the modern Latin Percussion form).
Is the cabasa hard to play?
Basic shaker technique is simple, but smooth, accent-controlled rotation of the modern Latin Percussion cabasa requires several months of practice to master. Capoeira-tradition gourd cabaça shaking is similarly straightforward at basic level but takes time to integrate with the wider rhythmic patterns of the bateria.
