EncyclopediaKaskabeleta

The kaskabeleta is an instrument of the idiophone group.

Description of the instrument

It is similar to cane and kalaka, but in this case the kaskabeleta is made with a stick of corn plant. One or more cuts are made wise, from one end to the center.

Way of playing

It works like a kalaka: by shaking the instrument by the handle or tapping against the other hand, the blades sound when they collide with each other.

History

Father Donostia (1952) says:

KASKABELETA: It is a cleft idiophone that is translated as castagnete in French and it is a corn stalk with three clefts. These tablets or sheets sound by shaking the stem. In some places in Navarra it has two slits, and it is called kalaka. They ensure that the corn stalk is not dry, but rather green; so it sounds more. Boys make them. (p. 300).

SOURCES

Bibliography

DONOSTIA, Aita. (1952). Instrumentos Musicales Populares Vascos. Obras Completas del P. Donostia. (Tomo II, 257-309). Bilbo: Ed. La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca, 1983.