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A passion turned into a craft.

Handmade shekere instruments and silk creations by independent musician & artist Dan Jones, Manchester, UK.

WELCOME

Here you will find my explorations in shekeres and silk. I stumbled across the Brazilian Carnival scene in Manchester in 2009 and the journey went from there. I got involved in Carnival arts as a volunteer, I learned to paint hundreds of meters of silk and cotton for costumes, and started playing in different Brazilian influenced music projects over the years. Experiencing different cultures from across the world and meeting some key, influential musicians and artists sparked my interest in making and led me to make my own products, inspired by the techniques I learned whilst doing this. I wanted to combine this vibrant scene into products, so people can take away a little bit of Carnival with them.

SHEKERE

A shekere is a percussion instrument made from a gourd shell (cabaça) and a net of beads. I mainly make Brazilian style shekere or abê as they are known also, though Cuban style shekere are on the horizon, please see my portfolio for examples of my work. All of my work is handmade, high-quality and good to play, using techniques I have honed over the years.

I will also post any shekere for sale here

EXPLORATIONS IN SILK

I also hand-paint silk in various forms, take a look at my shop to see what’s currently for sale.

ABA-WHAT?

Abacaxi is pronounced: Ahh-Bah-Ka-SHEE.

Abacaxi means pineapple in Portuguese, and a shekere is a sort of music pineapple…