Cristina's Pick of the Month
Shekeré Lamp
Why I Love It
I'll never forget the day Tito Puente made one of his last appearances on my show. He walked onto the set -- his shock of white hair outdone only by the shine of his smile -- and handed me a gift. What could it be? I wondered, as I peeled back the paper, feeling the gaze of the world's greatest Latin jazz musician on my hands. Seconds later, I was the one smiling. After all, he had given me a shekeré, a percussion instrument that originated with the Yoruba people of Nigeria but later surfaced in my country -- in the African music that is played there.
From that day on, I was fascinated by the shekeré. Traditionally made from a hollowed-out gourd and wrapped in a lattice of stones, the shekeré has a rhythmic rattle that does more than just add to the music. It actually helps me see the music -- enabling me to visualize the layers of sound around it as if the shekeré itself was a big, bold light. So when it came time for me to help design my lighting collection, I thought: Could I actually use the instrument that helped light up my music to light up my living room as well? Turns out, the answer was yes.
Accented by a natural, hand-knotted, beaded netting, Casa Cristina's Shekeré ceramic table lamp measures 29 1/2 inches high by 18 inches wide and features a base and finials that match and a shade that is shaped like the drum. Whether you want to read by your lamp or simply sit by its soft, romantic glow, the lamp's three-way switch will do the trick. And no matter where it sits, it will conjure up creative, cultural conversation that is sure to light up your life as well.
But for me, it does even more than that. After all, sometimes when I reach over and turn on my lamp, inspired by the gift that Tito gave me so many years ago, I can picture him looking down on it -- the shine of his smile brighter than ever before.
