EncyclopediaMatraka, mailuak

The rattle is an idiophone struck in a non-direct way.

Description of the instrument

It is a wooden board with one or more hammers, which can be made of wood or metal.

Way of playing

It is shaken up and down, so that the hammers hit one side and the other.

History

Father Donostia (1947) writes the following:

Matraca.— Percussion instrument, made of wood, of unfixed dimensions and shapes; it had been used in eastern towns where the use of bells was prohibited. In Spanish churches it is used on Holy Week days. Small noisemakers are used jazz-bands. It is a wooden instrument made up of a board and one or more knockers or mallets that, when shaken, produce an unpleasant noise.

In the following passage he mentions the rattle (matraca), although he calls it ratchet (carraca) (1952):

"In 1831, in Arizcun (Navarra), 42 and a half reales were paid to the carpenter for the material wages that he earned in the construction of a large 12-deck ratchet and a smaller one for Holy Week." (290. or.)

Like the carracas (rattles) and kalakas, the rattle is used in the celebrations of Holy Week (Beltrán, 1996). In Estella they take the of "hammers" and "compeletas". These last ones are of a single hammer, with a handle in the later part; taking one in each hand, they ring as if they were bells. The , "Completas", of course, they would take from the call to the religious services of Holy Week.

Jose Baranda playing the matraca. Muez, 1985.

Matraca-compeleta built by Carmelo Boneta from Estella (JMBA Collection, nº 773)

In the town of Errazkin, on the slope of Aralar range, they also used a large rattle at Christmas. The noisemakers used to be children, but as in Errazkin, when the noisemakers were large they were played by adults (p. 39).

Juan Martinikorena Lopetegi from Antsonea, sacristan of Errazkin, playing the church’s matraca. Errazkin, 1981.

In recent times we have collected information about noisemakers in the following places, among others:

3-hammer matraca made by Jesus Beraza, from Printzenea, Baraibar (JMBA Collection, nº 299)

Matraca made by Fausto Mitxelena (Oiartzun, 1911), from Altsu, in the Ergoien neighbourhood of Oiartzun.

Old matraca from an old farmhouse near Arditurri, Oiartzun. (JMBA Collection, nº 1473)

In Elgoibar this instrument was called “txalapata”. (JMBA Collection, nº 1200)

Matraca from Atxondo-Apatamonasterio (JMBA Collection, nº 0896)

Tikitauki-Matraka from Uribe-Sopela (JMBA Collection, nº 1472)

SOURCES

Bibliography

BELTRAN ARGIÑENA, Juan Mari. (1996). Soinutresnak euskal herri musikan. Hernani: Orain.

DONOSTIA, Aita. Instrumentos de musica Popular española. [AM, n.° II (1947), p. 105-152]. Obras Completas del P. Donostia. (Tomo II, 113-309). Bilbo: Ed. La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca, 1983.

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

ETNIKER. (1993). Juegos infantiles en Vasconia. Etniker Euskalerria. Gasteiz: Eusko Jaurlaritza.