As I'm continuing to discover, there's a lot more to the world of musical instruments than you find in a typical rock band or symphony orchestra. Some of them are so far removed that they still amuse me every time I encounter them. The best part, though, is that they usually have more depth than it first appears.
A shekere looks like someone playing a lamp that they found at a garage sale, though thankfully without the bulb and lampshade.
I'm sure most people look at cajón players like they're playing the box their drum came in instead of the drum itself. Who cares when you can make a sound like this come out of it, though?
Even the much-pilloried cowbell, made infamous by a certain SNL skit, can really rock out -- here as part of a timbales setup: