Cameroon
Cameroonian

Calabash, fiber twine, nut wood shells
Mid-Late 20th Century
Length: 11 in, Width: 6.5 in
Idiophone – Struck Indirectly – Shaken -Rattle

This Cameroonian shaker (rattle) made from a dried bottleneck shaped calabash is called a ficáw.  The ficáw consists of a mesh netting of plant fiber twine with numerous cracked small nut wood shells loosely woven over the globular part of the gourd. It is played by tossing, tapping, whirling, and shaking the gourd.  The ficáw adds sound texture to layers of complex rhythms typical of the sub-Saharan African music. Generically, they are called sekere, the Yoruba vernacular name of the instrument. While axatse is the name used in Ghana.  The ‘industrialized’ LP (Latin Percussion) shekere has now come to be used by African musicians, mostly playing neo-traditional and urban popular styles of music, not only in western Africa but elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.

Resource: www.metmuseum.org