Frame drum, sometimes with a snare, of Spain and Latin America. The caja of central Spain is often a shallow, military-style side drum, slung from the waist and played with two sticks to accompany the dulzaina (oboe), whilst those of Palma tend to be deeper.
The word caja is applied to a wide range of Latin American drums. In Columbia it is sometimes a shallow, single-headed instrument, whilst in Central America it tends to be double-headed, with the body deeper than the diameter of the head. The Cuban caja, which resembles the conga, is a large, deep single-headed drum of African origin, hollowed-out from a tree trunk and played with the hands. In the Andes, where the caja is widespread, it is typically shallow and double-headed, and may include an internal or external string snare. A single hard- (or soft-) headed beater is usually used, and the instrument is held vertically. The skins of the two heads are tied together around the frame with a leather thong or string, in the manner of the indigenous tinya (Quechua), with which it is often synonymous. It accompanies singing, wind ensembles or the player’s own performance on (for example) a tabor pipe or erkencho (clarinet).
I. Aretz: El folklore musical argentino (Buenos Aires, 1952)
F. Ortiz: Los instrumentos de la música afrocubana (Havena, 1952–5)
T. Noda Gómez and L. Siemens Hernández: ‘Los membrafónos tradicionales en la isla de la Palma’, RdMc, x (1987), 949–61
HENRY STOBART