This is a list of idiophones used in the Caribbean music area, used in the Caribbean music area, including the islands of the Caribbean Sea, as well as the musics of Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Belize, Garifuna music, and Bermuda.
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| Instrument | Tradition | Complete classification | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| agogó | See agogoró' | - | |
| agogoró' agogó |
Cuba | 111.221 | Hoe blade, struck with a nail or other heavy object |
| akanikã |
Cuba | 111.242.222 | Belt with many attached bells |
| asson baksor, asson can also refer to the ogan in Northern Haiti |
Haiti | 1 | Hollow calabash with a hole, which the player plugs during performance, where the stem used to be, covered in beaded webbing |
| assot |
Haiti | 1 | Wooden board, sometimes attached to a tymbale |
| arwé-koesolé | See bakosó' | - | |
| assongwé |
Cuba | 112.13 | Rattle made of tin, with both ends conical and an attached handle, used by Arara priests |
| atcheré güiro |
Cuba | 112.12 | Oblong rattle made from a gourd, and covered with a network of webbing laced with nuts or beads |
| bakosó arwé-koesolé |
Cuba | 112.12 | Large rattle made from a calabash, and covered with a network of webbing laced with nuts or beads |
| baksor | See asson | - | |
| banká ekón, ekóng |
Cuba | 111.242.121 | Metal bell, struck with a wooden stick, location of the strike determines pitch |
| base-bum | See steelpan | - | |
| base-kettle | See steelpan | - | |
| bell |
Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | Hand bell, used in the Spiritual Baptist musical tradition |
| bell, Lucumí |
Cuba | 111.242.121 | Bell with an external striker |
| belly | See steelpan | - | |
| bench |
Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | Ordinary sitting bench, used spontaneously by banging against the ground in the Spiritual Baptist musical tradition |
| bois bourrique | See vaccine | - | |
| boli chac-chac, shack-shack, xaque-xaque (Brazil), chacha (Cuba) |
Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | Hollow calabash with a hole, which the player plugs during performance, where the stem used to be, covered in beaded webbing, used in the Shango cult |
| cajon |
Cuba and Puerto Rico | 111.2 | Wooden box played as a bass drum, with hands held in front of the face, often while sitting on the instrument while playing |
| cata |
Haiti | 1 | Two types of beating tubes: a length of bamboo laid upon two y-shaped sticks in the ground, and a hollow wooden cylinder; both are beaten with sticks |
| catá |
Cuba | 1 | Hollowed out trunk hit with two sticks, used in yuka, term also used for a rumba rhythm |
| cencerro gangária, San Martin (for secular uses only) |
Cuba | ? | Large cowbell with no clapper, struck on the outside, used in many kinds of Cuban folk and popular music |
| chac-chac | See shak-shak | - | |
| chacha | See shak-shak | - | |
| chekere |
Cuba | 1 | Hollow calabash with a hole, which the player plugs during performance, where the stem used to be, covered in beaded webbing |
| claves |
Cuba and Haiti | 111.1 | Cylindrical percussive sticks of African origin, made from hardwood trees like acana, quiebrahacha, guayaca¡n, and granadillo |
| dentlé | See dentli | - | |
| dentli dentlé |
Haiti | 112.211 | Notched stick played with a bamboo scraping blade |
| dhantal |
Indo-Caribbean Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname | 1 | Steel rod, adapted from a piece of a yoke and hit with a beater in a horseshoe-shape, used in chutney |
| door |
Cuba | 111.221 | Normal door, beaten with a hand, integral component of the Yambú dance |
| double-conical rattle |
Cuba | 112.13 | Double-conical rattle, made of tin and held horizontally, known in Jovellanos |
| ekón | See banká | - | |
| ekóng | See banká | - | |
| ericúnde | See erikúnde | - | |
| erikúnde ericúnde |
Cuba | 112.13 | Tubular rattle with a looping basket-shaped handle, filled with chunks of wood |
| gangária | See cencerro | - | |
| geared rattle kwa-kwa |
Haiti | 1 | Rattle, used in Rara ceremonies |
| grage |
Haiti | 112.23 | Metal scraper with small, closely spaced holes, played with a piece of wire or nail |
| grind organ |
Cuba | 1 | Integral component of the Yambú dance |
| güira |
Dominican Republic | 1 | Sheet of metal shaped into a tube, used in bachata and merengue |
| güira | See güiro | - | |
| Güiro güayo |
Cuba | NA | Generic term for any instrument made from a gourd, especially a scraper |
| güiro |
Cuba | 112.12 | Oblong rattle made from pieces of tin, and covered with a network of webbing laced with nuts or beads, known in Matanzas Province |
| güayo |
Puerto Rico | 1 | Used in bomba and plena |
| erimé |
Cuba | 112.13 | Set of four rattles attached to a pair of crossed sticks |
| iron |
Surinamese Maroons | 111.1 | Pieces of any available metal struck together |
| iron tube, Lucumí |
Cuba | 111.242.121 | Hollow iron tube with a slit along the side, played with an external striker |
| guataca |
Cuba | ? | cowbell, played using a striker |
| jhanj |
Trinidad and Tobago | ? | Pair of large cymbals |
| kwa-kwa tcha-tcha, tcha-kwa |
Haiti | 112.13 | Empty gourd filled with seeds; can also refer to the geared rattle |
| kwakwa |
Surinamese Maroons | 1 | Bench with a wooden top, played with two sticks, from a squatting position |
| malimba | See marimba | - | |
| manimba | See marimba | - | |
| manimbula | See marimba | - | |
| maraca shakkas (Garifuna) marúga (Matanzas Province only) |
Cuba, Garifuna music, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and elsewhere | 112.13 | Rattle found in Jamaica and across the Greater Antilles and Central America, made from a hollow gourd, often a calabash, and filled with dried seeds |
| marimba | See marimbula | - | |
| marimba malimba, manimba, manimbula |
Haiti | 111.2 | Box mounted with strips that can be plucked |
| marimbula marimba (Dominican Republic only) |
Cuba, introduced to the Dominican Republic and elsewhere | 111.2 | Box mounted with metal strips that can be plucked, used as a bass instrument in rural folk genres like son |
| marúga | See maraca | - | |
| mayohavau mayahuacan |
Puerto Rico | 111.231 | Slit drum made of thin wood, shaped like an elongated gourd, originally of Taino origin |
| mayahuacan | See mayohavau | - | |
| oga | See ogan (Cuba) | - | |
| ogan |
Cuba | 111.242.121 | Iron bell, held upside down and struck with a beater, used among the Arara |
| ogan, double |
Cuba | 111.242.221 | Pair of ogan, used in mourning music among the Arara |
| ogan asson |
Haiti | 111.1 | Pieces of chain or other metal struck together |
| quijara de burro |
Cuba | 112.122 | Jawbone of a burro, teeth acting as rattles |
| quinto |
Cuba | 111.2 | Box with two sloping sides, tapped with the fingers percussively |
| rattle |
Surinamese Maroons | 112.13 | Rattle used in both secular and religious purposes, with a specific rhythm for the spirit associated with each ritual |
| rattle-bracelet |
Cuba | 112.112 | Bracelets with attached nuts and seeds, worn by drummers in the Kimbisa tradition |
| rumba box |
Jamaica | 2 | Maroon instrument used to accompany social dancing, wooden box with three metal brackets on one side |
| San Martin | See cencerro | - | |
| shack-shack | See shak-shak | - | |
| shak-shak chac-chac, shack-shack, xaque-xaque (Brazil), chacha (Cuba) |
Lesser Antilles | 1 | Rattle, made from a dried gourd, often a calabash, and filled with dried seeds, with a handle attached where the calabash stem formerly was, not normally decorated or painted, may be placed in a pair |
| shak-shak |
Saint Lucia and other Francophone islands | 1 | Rattle, made from a pair of tin cans, emptied, then filled with a few loose pebbles and soldered shut |
| shak-shak |
Lesser Antilles | 112.13 | Improvised rattle, made from a single tin can and a few loose pebbles, often played by children practicing for the use of the more common shak-shak or adults at impromptu occasions |
| shekeres |
Cuba | ? | Gourd rattle, strung with seeds or beeds |
| shepherd's crook |
Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | Staff, used spontaneously by banging against the ground in the Spiritual Baptist musical tradition |
| spoons |
Cuba | 111.141 | Pair of normal spoons beaten together, integral component of the Yambú dance |
| steeldrum | See steelpan | - | |
| steelpan steeldrum, tock-tock, belly, base kettle, base bum |
Trindad and Tobago originally, now widespread | 111.2 | Made from tempered metal drums, tuned chromatically; not a true drum in that it is an idiophone, not a membranophone |
| tamboo-bamboo |
Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | Tuned bamboo stomping tubes, used as a substitute percussion instrument when drums were outlawed |
| tcha-kwa | See kwa-kwa | - | |
| tcha-tcha | See kwa-kwa | - | |
| tibwa |
Saint Lucia | 2 | Wooden sticks, played against the rim of a ka, or against a bamboo tube or a log sitting on a stand |
| tock-tock | See steelpan | - | |
| vaccine bois bourrique |
Haiti | 111.2 | Bamboo trumpet, played as an idiophone by tapping it with sticks |
| wacharaca matrimonial |
Curaçao | 1 | Metal disks attached to a wooden board |
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