Folk Culture

Musica Jibara is what is known as typical Puerto Rican music. The cuatro, guiro, and guitar are the three usual instruments. The cuatro is the Puerto Rican national instrument.

The Puerto Rican instruments used to play folk music are the barriles (drums), panderos, and the cuatro. The barriless are drums made of wood and covered with goat skin. They aare similar to the Cuban conga drums. Panderos aare like tambourines but without little bells.

The cuatro is like a guitar and is made of wood. Originally the cuatro had only four strings; however around 1875, it was changed to five sets of double strings. The first cuatro was similar to the vihuela.

The tuning of the cuatro is the first string corresponds to the note SOL, the second to RE, the third to LA, the fourth to MI and the fifth to SI. The first set of strings have the same thickness. The second are also the same. However the third, fourth, and fifth have different thicknesses.

Many folk musicians learn to play the cuatro by reading tablature rather than musical notation.