Ganza

The ganzá is a rattle used in Brazilian percussion ensembles, especially when performing samba. A ganzá is shaped like a cylinder and is either woven like a basket or made of metal. Beads, pebbles or other objects inside the ganzá make a sharp, loud noise when the instrument is shaken.

The ganza, an instrument that is played by "shaking", inspired from Indian maracas or African calabash, is the first level of this hierarchy. Whoever fails to control its basic rhythm and to correctly place on the tempo of other instruments, should not pretend to start another instrument according to Carlinhos Brown .

A perfect control of the dynamics can actually allow to choose the loudness that you desire, at each shock of the grains against the shell, and thus express endless variations. Few are the specialists who have acquired this control, which is highly relevant in the context of "pagode" (band with singers, guitarists and percussionists) or "jazz-samba", more intimist.