Shak-shak

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Shak-shak is a hand-held percussion instrument from the Caribbean and Latin America. It is a hollow vessel, usually a dried gourd, filled with seeds, beads, or pebbles. When you shake it, the contents hit the inside walls and make a sharp rhythm. Shak-shaks are typically used in pairs but can be played one at a time. The sound depends on what the instrument is made of—metal bodies are louder and sharper, while plastic versions are softer.

The name shak-shak comes from the sound it makes. In the Lesser Antilles it’s often called shak-shak; in the Greater Antilles it’s usually called a maraca, from the Guarani word mbaraca. The instrument has roots in indigenous South American cultures, with early forms used by the Guarani and Tupinambá peoples in ceremonies and divination.

In the early modern period, the shak-shak spread through the Caribbean and blended with West African influences, helping shape styles such as parang in Trinidad and Tobago, samba in Brazil, Afro-Cuban music, and many Latin American folk and popular genres.