Overview

Maracas, also known as rumba shakers, are a hand percussion instrument usually played in pairs and common in Caribbean, Latin American, and South American music. Maracas are a rattle instrument traditionally made of dried calabash gourds or turtle shells filled with beans, beads, or pebbles. Today maracas are made out of many different materials—you can find wood maracas, fiber maracas, rawhide maracas, and plastic maracas. Maracas belong to the idiophone group, which consists of musical instruments that create sound by vibration without using strings, air, or membranes. Unlike idiophones that produce sound when struck (such as castanets, cymbals, and xylophones), maracas belong to a subcategory of shaken idiophones.

Maracas produce different sounds depending on the outer material, inner fillings, and size, and they’re common in many musical genres.

1. In Cuban music: Musicians typically use maracas to keep the beat and supply rhythmic accompaniment in Cuban music genres like salsa, guaracha, son Cubano, cha cha chá, and mambo.
2. In Afro-Puerto Rican music: Maraca players typically use one maraca with a higher pitch and one maraca with a lower pitch—except for the Afro-Puerto Rican musical style Bomba, which only uses one large maraca.
3. In orchestral music: While maracas are most prevalent in Latin music, they aren't confined to the genre. For example, in 1942, famed American composer Leonard Bernstein used maracas as drumsticks in his Jeremiah Symphony.
4. In rock ’n’ roll: Bo Diddley, pioneer of rock ’n’ roll, frequently used maracas in his songs.
5. source - https://www.masterclass.com/articles/guide-to-maracas#what-are-the-origins-of-maracas