Who is Castanets?
Castanets, also known as clackers or palillos, are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Spanish, Calé, Moorish, Ottoman, Italian, Mexican, Sephardic, Portuguese and Swiss music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a similar instrument called the crotalum. The instrument consists of a pair of concave shells joined on one edge by a string. They are held in the hand and used to produce clicks for rhythmic accents or a ripping or rattling sound consisting of a rapid series of clicks. They are traditionally made of hardwood (chestnut; Spanish: castaño), although fibreglass has become increasingly popular. In practice, a player usually uses two pairs of castanets. One pair is held in each hand, with the string hooked over the thumb and the castanets resting on the palm with the fingers bent over to support the other side. Each pair will make a sound of a slightly different pitch. The slightly lower one usually marks the beat with joined fingers, whereas the slightly higher...