ABSTRACT
The metal scraper called guira may be the most commonly played instrument in the Dominican Republic. This chapter traces the surprising transformations in the instrument’s construction, playing techniques, and social status, centering its discussion on primary sources such as interviews with guira makers and players. The shape and size of that instrument were far different from guiras. The guira was generally made of sheets of tin or even from used peanut-oil cans. The guira holds high symbolic importance in the Dominican national imaginary – much more so than the “foreign” accordion. A guira destined to play merengue tipico has to be particularly durable. Bumps as thin as those on orquesta guiras wear out too quickly, since tipico requires faster, harder playing. In spite of its low-status associations, however, the guira is not wholly reviled because it is simultaneously recognized as holding symbolic value, just as is merengue tipico as a whole.
