Rainstick, Chile
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Title |
Rainstick, Chile |
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Description |
Cactus with band of col. crocheted yarn; 52 x 8 cm. The rainstick has become a popular musical instrument and has been adopted by many musicians around the world. This rainstick,decorated with a crocheted band of colors, was imported from Chile where many instruments are made today and, therefore, may have been made by the Diaguita Indians of Chile. Some claim that rainsticks originated with the Diaguita as an instrument to bring rain. Certainly the Diaguita, farmers who live in the Atacama Desert area of northern Chile and Argentina, need precipitation, since their area is some of the driest in the world. The Diaguita use the dead stalks of a capado cactus to make the instruments. Thorns from the plant are pressed into the dead wood. It is the pebbles hitting against these thorns as they fall down the tube that create the rain-like sound. Early accounts of the Diaguita people, however, do not list the rainstick in their material culture inventory. Stories concerning the origin of the rainstick are numerous. It seems likely that the origins of the rainstick as a musical instrument may have been the stick or tubular rattle. Researchers at the turn of the century describe tubular rattles, very similar to the rainstick, made and used by the groups throughout Central and South America. Other accounts of the origin of the rainstick say they were used by the Aztecs, or that the idea was introduced to western South America by enslaved African people, as early at 1537. It may be that the rainstick was introduced into popular Mexican music sometime during the 1960s. Other people suggest that the ecology movement to save the Amazon rainforests, at the same time, brought the rainstick forward as a symbol for the rainforest. |
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Subject |
Rattle (Musical instrument)--Chile.; Percussion instruments--Chile.; Musical instruments--Chile.; Diaguita Indians--Chile.; Rattle (Musical instrument)--Central America.; Rattle (Musical instrument)--South America. |
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Date |
[2008] |
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Format |
JPEG |
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Rights |
Image © Giertz Education Center, Krannert Art Museum. |
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