Calle de San Francisco, Old San Juan — photo spot in 151 Calle de San Francisco, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901
Calle de San Francisco, Old San Juan
Score9.2The güiro’s that scraped gourd sound holding down the groove in salsa and merengue. Ridges carved into a shell, run over with a stick or metal fork. It goes back to the Taíno people of the Caribbean, way before Spanish colonization, and got folded into Afro-Caribbean music from there. Sounds simple but there’s real feel to it; the wrist work to lock that scrape into the rhythm takes years to get right.
Calle de San Francisco, Old San Juan
Score9.2The güiro’s that scraped gourd sound holding down the groove in salsa and merengue. Ridges carved into a shell, run over with a stick or metal fork. It goes back to the Taíno people of the Caribbean, way before Spanish colonization, and got folded into Afro-Caribbean music from there. Sounds simple but there’s real feel to it; the wrist work to lock that scrape into the rhythm takes years to get right.