It is an authentic natural gourd (calabash), layered inside with hard plastic, making it somehow more sturdy and resistant than the original natural ones, but at the expense of compromising the bass tone /doum, being not so appealing (also in relation to the size).
The "seeds" are made of plastic, providing a really loud and crisp sound, able to cut through entire bands/ensembles, being relatively easy to adjust volume with enough practice and with the right technique.
All in all I think it is a good shekere, probably the best cost/quality among the industrial options available
