| Name | Image | Description | Video |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashiko |  | An ashiko is a kind of drum shaped like a truncated cone and meant to be played with bare hands. It produces a resonant bass tone when struck in the middle, and a high tone when struck on the rim. The ashiko drum is played throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas. In eastern Cuba, it is known as boku and is played during carnivals and street parades called Comparsas. | |
| Batá drum |  | A Batá drum is a double-headed drum shaped like an hourglass with one cone larger than the other. The percussion instrument is used primarily for the use of religious or semi-religious purposes for the native culture from the land of Yoruba, located in Nigeria, as well as by worshippers of Santería in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and in the United States. | |
| Bongos |  | Bongo drums or bongos are a percussion instrument made up of two small drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called a hembra (Spanish: female), the smaller drum is called a macho (Spanish: male). | |
| Cencerro |  | A clapperless cowbell is called a cencerro in Cuban music and often played by the same player as the bongos. Clapperless cowbells made of metal are an important element in Latin-American and go go music. These cowbells are struck with a stick - the tone being modulated by striking different parts of the bell and by damping with the hand holding the bell. | |
| Claves |  | Claves is a percussion instrument (idiophone), consisting of a pair of short (about 20-30 cm), thick dowels. Traditionally they were made of wood, but nowadays they are also made of fibreglass or plastics due to the longer durability of these materials. When struck they produce a bright clicking noise. Claves are sometimes hollow and carved in the middle to amplify the sound. | |
| Güiro |  | The güiro is a percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a wooden stick along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound. The güiro is commonly used in Latin-American music, and plays a key role in the typical cumbia rhythm section. | |
| Itótele |  | Itótele is an intermediate-sized batá goblet-shaped drum from Cuba. It is made of wood and covered with skin. Red wax-like substance called ida or fardela sometimes is used to produce a duller sound. | |
| Iyá |  | Iyá is the largest batá goblet-shaped drum from Cuba. It is made of wood and covered with goatskin. Red wax-like substance called ida or fardela is used to produce a duller sound. Iyá is wrapped with bells and belts. | |
| marímbula |  | A marímbula (pronounced "mah-REAM-boo-lah") is a folk musical instrument of Caribbean Islands. With its roots in African instruments, marimbula originated in the province of Oriente, Cuba in 19th century. Eventually it spread throughout the Caribbean and the Americas. The sound of a marimbula is produced by plucking the free ends of springy plates ("tongues" or keys) attached by one end to a resonator box. | |
| Tres |  | The tres is a chordophone created in Cuba. A later adaptation, the Puerto Rican tres, is a 3-course, 9-string instrument. The Cuban tres has three courses (groups) of two strings each for a total of six strings. From the low pitch to the highest, the principal tuning is in C Major: G, C, E. However, today many treseros are playing a step up A, D, F# or D Major. | |
| Trompeta China |  | The trompeta china (also called corneta china), a Cuban traditional wind instrument, is actually the Chinese suona, an instrument in the oboe family introduced to Cuba by Chinese immigrants during the colonial period (specifically the late nineteenth century). The trompeta china is used primarily in Cuban carnival music, particularly in the eastern region of Santiago, where it is an integral part of the comparsa (carnival musical ensemble). In addition to its use in Cuba, the Canadian jazz saxophonist and flutist Jane Bunnett has taken up the trompeta china and uses it with her Afro-Cuban jazz band. |
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