The ganzá () is a Brazilian
rattle used as a
percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
, especially in
samba
Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...
music.

The ganzá is cylindrically shaped and can be either a hand-woven basket or a metal canister which is filled with beads, metal balls, pebbles, or other similar items. Those made from metal produce a particularly loud sound. They are usually used to play a rhythm underneath the rest of the band.
It is usually included in the
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
ian
Samba
Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...
as an undertone.
The ganzá is classified as an indirectly struck
idiophone
An idiophone is any musical instrument that creates sound primarily by the vibration of the instrument itself, without the use of air flow (as with aerophones), strings (chordophones), membranes (membranophones) or electricity ( electrophone ...
.
See also
*
Caxixi
A caxixi () is a percussion instrument consisting of a closed basket with a flat bottom filled with seeds or other small particles. The round bottom is traditionally cut from a dried gourd. The caxixi is an indirectly struck idiophone. Like the ...
*
Chocalho
''Chocalho'' is the generic name for "shaker" in Portuguese. There are various types of idiophones using this name in Portuguese, not always being the same instrument:
*a shaker;
*a kind of jingle stick used to play samba music;
*a cowbell;
C ...
*
Afoxé
The afoxé is an Afro Brazilian musical instrument composed of a gourd (''cabaça'') wrapped in a net in which beads or small plastic balls are threaded. The instrument is shaken to produce its musical noise.
A similar instrument is the she ...
References
Brazilian percussion
Vessel rattles
{{Rattle-stub