Final answer:
Traditional Puerto Rican folk music includes instruments such as the cuatro, guiro, and maracas, reflecting its cultural heritage. These instruments are similar to those found in other Caribbean and African American musical traditions, such as the steel pan and gourd banjos.
Step-by-step explanation:
Traditional Puerto Rican folk music makes use of native instruments such as the cuatro - a small four-string guitar, the guiro - a hollow gourd scraped with a stick, and the maracas - round hollow gourds filled with dry beans or seeds, adding to the authentic flavor.
Instruments like these reflect the island's cultural heritage and are common in folk music, as they are lightweight, homemade, and easy to play, following the tradition of using readily available materials to create music.
The Caribbean is known for its rich musical traditions, uniquely evolving on each island, often reflective of the island's own cultural history and influences.
This is seen in Puerto Rican traditional music, which utilizes distinctive instruments like the cuatro, guiro, and maracas, akin to how other instruments such as the steel pan from Trinidad and Tobago or the banjo from West African origin have become integral to the music of their respective cultures.