A percussion that is well-known but you dont know its name!?

I'm a percussionist, Satoshi Sammy Saito.
Even if you say "percussion", there are a variety of instruments around the world that fit the category.
So, from among the percussion instruments, of which there are as many as the number of stars

① You often see it live
② You've heard it on a CD you purchased
③ You've seen it at a general store
④ But you don't know the name

I'm going to introduce such a familiar percussion instrument.

What is it like!?

I've heard conversations like this in music venues and studios.

Like, "that instrument... You know, the one that makes a rattling sound!" or
"Use that one! The instrument that has nuts and rattles!"...

Although it's well-known and you can picture it, the name isn't popular, and you have no idea what it's called… "that" instrument...

It's called... chajchas!!!

I think many people are hearing this name for the first time. Simply put, chajchas are an instrument made of a bundle of nuts and animal claws.
They can be played as a rhythm instrument, but they're basically a percussion instrument used to produce accents or spatial tones.

Upgraded evolved version of chajchas

Recently, we can find the upgraded evolved version of chajchas in Japan. However, it's not well-known yet. This version of evolved chajchas is a must-have percussion instrument for percussionists.

Here... it is!

Bar chajchas

[Photo above: details of the bar chajchas]
・Manufacturer: Gon Bops
・Product name: Shell Chimes/GON-PCHMSH
・Accessories: Soft case

Looking at the photo, it's just unbundled chajchas arranged in a row on strings...

But!

Just making bundled chajchas into a bar type,
It's easy to handle and the tone changes!
Let's briefly compare the difference between the standard bundled chajchas and the bar-type evolved chajchas.

The biggest feature of the bar-type chajchas is that unlike bundled chajchas, you don't have to hold it in your hand and you can play it with one hand.

It sounds like that may be unimportant, but there are surprisingly many situations where percussionists have to play a lot of instruments, have different instruments on the right and left, have to do completely different movements at the same time or change instruments in the middle of a song.
In such situations, the bar-type chajchas that can be played with one hand without switching instruments is very attractive to the percussionist.

How about the tone?

I'd like to introduce the difference in tone between the bundled and bar-type chajchas.

● Bundled chajchas
First of all, the bundled chajchas' sound is basically a little rough since the nuts and claws are already close together.
Depending on the playing style, you can play a strong, thick sounds as well as a thin, soft sound. Shaking it up and down makes one big sound, or shaking it sideways or rubbing it with your hand makes the sound of rubbing branches and leaves, and underwater sounds.

● Bar-type chajchas
Next, about the bar-type chajchas, since each part is hung separately, the sound is basically delicate and soft. By flowing from left to right by hand like a wind chime, you can play the gentle and healing sound of water like the murmuring of a stream, and holding the handle and shaking it up and down makes the sound of strong, heavy rain.

One more point!

When you play bar-type chajchas, I recommend you to always set up a separate microphone for the chajchas. You can get a delicate and beautiful sound even with the raw sound, but you can reproduce the realistic sound of water with a microphone and a little reverb.
In fact, when I used a microphone (with reverb), I was asked, "which instrument made the sound of that beautiful water?"

Chajchas are easy and convenient for anyone to play, and is a must-have instrument for percussionists.

You can use the bundled and bar-type chajchas depending on the scene or song, and you can increase the number of sounds!
If you are interested, please get yourself some chajchas!

*Check out the sound of bar-type chajchas in this video!!

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