Chocalho

Musicians playing chocalho in a Samba school parade.

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;

Chocalhos are typically used as a support to the sound of the caixas, to sustain the rhythm in the bateria. This instrument exists of an aluminium or wooden frame with a number of rows, each carrying pairs of jingles (platinelas). The chocalho is played by shaking it back and forth and pumping the arms up and down.