Wooden Castanets

Wooden Castanets – Made from Ebony Wood like on the keys of traditional pianos.

They come in a pair.

Dimensions: Total Length 8cm

Elasticated for ease of use.

great sound due to the craftsmanship and quality cuts of wood. I visited the workshop where these are made and watched them being produced by hand.  The skill that goes into the hand-making of these castanets is incredible.

There may be slight variation in colour to the picture as in nature.

Quality gift that you won’t find in high street stores.

The are hand made by Zang in his workshop in a village about 30 minutes from Hanoi, Vietnam

We sell a wide variety of other hand percussion, drums and musical instruments from around the world.

Our items are fairly traded and difficult-to-find items. We source every item personally in the country.

Not suitable for children

Background

Castanets, also known as clackers or palillos, are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Spanish, Kalo, Moorish,^[1] Ottoman, Italian, Mexican, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a similar instrument called the crotalum. The instrument consists of a pair of concave shells joined on one edge by a string. They are held in the hand and used to produce clicks for rhythmic accents or a ripping or rattling sound consisting of a rapid series of clicks. They are traditionally made of hardwood (chestnut; Spanish: castaño),^[1] although fibreglass has become increasingly popular.

In practice, a player usually uses two pairs of castanets. One pair is held in each hand, with the string hooked over the thumb and the castanets resting on the palm with the fingers bent over to support the other side. Each pair will make a sound of a slightly different pitch.

The origins of the instrument are not known. The practice of clicking hand-held sticks together to accompany dancing is ancient, and was practiced by both the Greeks and the Egyptians.

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