The St. Johns herald., 1899-04-15
MUSIC IN PORTO RICO.
The National Instrument, the Guira,
 Is Simple but Ingenious.

Is Simple but Ingenious. i Like ali other Spanish-speaking peo-
 oles, the Porto Ricans are fond of mu- i sic. Every cafe has its orchestra, for
 a cafe could hardly do business without i one. Every main street during the lat
 ter part of the day has its little itiner- ant band of guitar and violin players. and the warm nights are made pleasant to the strollers along the streets by the sound of stringed instruments which
 floats from behind the latticed, vine
 clad screen of private residences. Nearly all of the airs are pitched in
 a minor key, which, even when intend
 ed to be joyous, contains plaint to the Angle-Saxon fond of Sousa's robust
 music. To one who has travelled in
 Spanish lands the music of Porto Rico at first seems very familiar, but the ear
 is not long in discovering something novel in the accompaniment to the melody.
 It sounds at first like the rhythmical shuffie of feet upon sanded floor, and one might suppose some expert clog dancer was nimbly stepping to the music made by the violins and guitars. The motion Is almost too quick, too complicated, for this, however, and 1t is the deftness of fingers, and not feet, which produces it.
 It comes from the only musical in- strument native to the West Indies, the "guira," which word is pronounced "huir-r-a," with a soft roll and twist to the tongue only possible to the native. The ''guira" is a gourd varying in size in different instruments. On the in verse curve of the gourd are cut slits like those in the top of violin. On the other side of the gOurd opposite the holes is a series of deep scratches. The player balances the gOurd in his left hand, holding 1t lightly that none of the resonance may be lost.
 With the right hand he rapidly rubs this roughened side of the gOurd with q twO-tined steel fork. Tn the hands of a novice this produces nothing but harsh, disagreeable noise. In the hands of native "guira" player a wonderful rhythmic sound comes from this dried vegetable shell-a sound which. in its place in the orchestra, becomes music, and most certainly gives splendid time and considerable volume to the per fOrmance.
 The players hand moves with light ming rapidity. The steel fork at times makes long sweeps the whole length of the gourd, and then again vibrates with incredible swiftness over but an inch or two of its surface. There seems to be a perfect method in its playing, though no musical record is before the player, and 1t seems to be a matter purely of his fancy and his ear as to how his part shall harmonize with the melody of the stringed instruments.
 The guira is found in all the West Indies, but seems especially popular in Porto Rico. The players generally make their own instruments, and apparently become attached to them, for as poor as these strolling players are they will part with their guiras, even when offered ten times their real value. They are distinctly Porto Rican curio, and, strange as 1t may seem, Porto Rico is | probably more destitute of tourists foot" than any foreign country known to the travelling American. The tourist l who can secure guira may congratu- late himself, for it will be hard to get, and is the very thing which can be car ried away from the island as a sou venir which is distinctly native and City Star