Dean Olsher: If you like Latin music, you are likely to have heard a percussion section that includes a cowbell. And if it was a record made in New York chances are also good that that cowbell was made by Cali Rivera. Up until the 1960's, all cowbells were pretty much made by hand. Today the bells are more popular than ever but they're made in factories. Except for one place in the Bronx, a one-room workshop, where they are still made the old-fashion way.

Cali Rivera, cowbell maker: I'm Cali Rivera and my shop is right in the heart of the Bronx. The Bronx, you know the Bronx? Yeah. I am about two and a half blocks from the Yankee stadium. We make any kind of percussion instrument. But my main thing here is the bells.

HITS THE BELL - CLANG x3

Cali Rivera: At the beginning everything that was on my mind was the bells, bells, bells. That's what I started with - bells, bells. Nothing else. You know why? In salsa or any kind of music, like Caribbean music, the cowbell is number-one. Everybody going to follow the bell. The bell is the hammer. We call it the hammer, right there. Dock, dock, dock. When you hear the pu pu pu that's the rhythm.

HITS BELL - PU, PU, PU...

FADE IN MUSIC - FADE DOWN

Cali Rivera: In this type of music they need this type of instrument.

CLANG x2

Cali Rivera: Ha, ha. This is the bell that we make.

DEMONSTRATES BELL

Cali Rivera: The bell has to be bright like this.

CLANG x4

Cali Rivera: Now this is the bell, the factory made bell. Machine made in Thailand.

DEMONSTRATES FACTORY MADE BELL - THUNK, THUNK, THUNK

Cali Rivera: That's a dead bell, this is ready to do to sleep.

THUNK x4

Cali Rivera: Now the difference between these bells, is the power of the machine. When they put these guys on the machine, the machine goes rmmm and makes the bell in one shot. It's easy for them to do it this way. But not for us. We do a lot of things to get these bells done.

CLANG x3

Cali Rivera: This is the way that we bend the bells. This it the bending die right here. [SOUNDS OF WORKING WITH METAL STOOLS] put the metal on the die and we bend the bell, and ummm. Go. You have to have some muscles to do this. Now what you need is use the hammer. [HAMMERING] We got this hear. See the bell is complete. Now all we have to do is wield it.

WELDING - FADES IN & OUT

Cali Rivera: now these types of bells the come in a different like...high pitch, medium pitch, low pitch. You can hear how low this is. [DEMONSTRATION] we got another one, it's high high pitch. This is what you call zschuuuung high, C high.

CALI PLAYS COW BELL

Cali Rivera: All my family, they love music. They play the music. My father used to be like me. He used to make the guitars, fix the guitars. And, my mother used to cook Sundays. [MUSIC FADES IN] Maybe I was 12 years or 13 there were about 5 or 6 guys in the house. And all, they all play guitars and sing. My mother used to serve me food, or whatever, and I take the fork. When I hear the music I start banging on the plates. Sounds like a cowbell for me. And everybody was singing right there. And that was beautiful.

Cali Rivera: I never thought I was going to be a bell maker, but this is almost 30-35 years already. And I am here making bells, millions of bells. Millions of bells came out from here. That's the story. Beautiful story ech?

MUSIC FADES OUT.

© 2002 Emily Botein & Joe Richman & Ben Shapiro