The (sistrum) remained a liturgical instrument in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church throughout the centuries and is played today during the dance performed by the debtera (cantors) on important church festivals. It is also occasionally found in Neopagan worship and ritual. The sistrum was occasionally revived in 19th century Western orchestral music, appearing most prominently in Act 1 of the opera Les Troyens (1856–1858) by the French composer Hector Berlioz. Nowadays, however, it is replaced by its close modern equivalent, the tambourine. The effect produced by the sistrum in music – when shaken in short, sharp, rhythmic pulses – is to arouse movement and activity. The rhythmical shaking of the sistrum, like the tambourine, is associated with religious or ecstatic events, whether shaken as a sacred rattle in the worship of Hathor of ancient Egypt, or in the strident jangling of the tambourine in modern-day Evangelicalism, in Romani song and dance, on stage at a rock concert, or to heighten a large-scale orchestral tutti. Classical composer Hans Werner Henze (1926–2012) calls for the flautist to play two sistra in his 1988 work Sonate für sechs Spieler (Sonata for six players). West Africa Various modern West African and Gabon rattle instruments are also called sistra (plural of sistrum): the calabash sistrum, the West Africa sistrum or disc rattle (n'goso m'bara) also called Wasamba or Wassahouba rattle. It typically consists of a V-shaped branch with some or many concave calabash discs attached, which can be decorated. Gallery Footnotes References External links Sistrum (Smith's Dictionary, 1875) Shaken idiophones or rattles Egyptian artefact types Arabic musical instruments Ethiopian musical instruments Ancient Egyptian musical instruments Ancient Greek musical instruments Sacred musical instruments Hathor Bastet