The most important instrument in Junkanoo music is the goombay drum, a large drum made from a wooden barrel with a goatskin stretched across the top. Players beat it with their bare hands, creating deep booming rhythms. Dozens of goombay drums played together create a sound you can feel in your chest before you even hear it with your ears.
Cowbells are another signature Junkanoo sound. Each musician hits the bell with a metal rod in a precise, repeating pattern. When hundreds of cowbells play together in a large group, called a 'shack shack', the sound is hypnotic and energising. Brass horns add melody on top of the percussion, and whistles cut through everything like shouts of excitement.
Junkanoo music is not written down in the same way as classical music — it is learned by playing alongside more experienced musicians. Young children in the Bahamas grow up hearing it and often join junior groups to practise for months before each parade season. The music is passed on through doing, listening, and playing together.
Each Junkanoo group — called a 'shack' — develops its own musical style and rhythm patterns that become a kind of identity. Competing groups work hard to make their sound tighter, louder, and more exciting than any other. The music competition is just as important as the costume competition at the parade.