Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois Bill Oliver 16 March 2003 Vol 2 Issue: #11 ISBN: pending Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, For some time I have heard flute music in my mind. Last week we watched the movie "WindTalkers". I've known since the middle ‘40s who the WindTalkers were [maybe closer to the ‘50s]. I only mention this because the music played on the flute in the movie resonates in my head even yet. This music in my head has reminded me that twenty years or so ago a Hohner Chromatic Harmonica I had bought while in the Navy, disappeared never to be heard again. [Which may have been a message, for I know no note from another.] However, all notes sounded wonderful when playing to the ocean wide and deep where the wind blows away the sounds. Hanging on my study wall is a cow horn which was used by my Grandmother to call my Grandfather in from the fields. Using this as a trumpet, I tried to create some of the sounds I was hearing. I got to laughing at myself for this but it reminded me of trying to use a Conch as a horn in Greece a half century ago. Conch Shell trumpets are known in almost every coastal region of the world and in many island cultures also. They are one of the oldest [musical ?] instruments in the world. The smaller ones giving the higher notes and as they get larger, lower notes are produced. They are made by cutting off the top spiral of a conch shell and they are played by blowing into the new opening. Conch [said "konk"] is a common name for certain large marine snails. There are gastropod mollusks. The pink-lipped conch is the queen. The shells have overlapping whorls with a bright colored pink lip and they can reach a length of a foot or more. In scouting campouts we used to send young scouts out for some foolish things, such as "left handed smoke shifters". We would send them to specific persons at specific locations. This was, of course, fun for the older scouts, but it taught the young one where certain places around the reservation were as well as introduced them to seasoned scouters. Well, while in Greece, I learned that there were left handed and right handed conches — dextral and sinistral. A few rare shells would open to the left and were thus very highly prized. I've seen paintings of Seafarers wearing a conch on their belts high in the masts. Sailors would encounter these shells in warm waters the world over. And, they could see their uses in gaining attention of those in other parts of the ships they were on. There are other uses for conches, after all they are edible snails. This was known to the Arawak Indians before the time of Christopher Columbus. The Arawak also carved the shells into tools, horns and ceremonial objects. The Euros used parts of the shell for cameo carvings. The word conch comes from the Greek language meaning shell. But, it also is the name of a people living in the Bahamas. It is said that they were British sympathizers during the American Revolution. The name implies a saying attributed to these people, that they would rather eat conch than go to war. It was a custom to place a conch on a stick in front of a home to signal a new born. Conches in Key West claim dual citizenship ... as Conches and as Americans. The North American Indians treated the conch horn with great reverence believing that it had special powers. The Canadian Ojibwa nation's Grand Medicine Society held the shell as a sacred emblem. The Conch shell was used as a scrapper, scoop or dipper, hammer, gouge, chisel and eating dish, as well as a trumpet. Indians of many nations used it to communicate from village to village; to initiate actions such as battles; to signal the beginning and ending of a work day; and to welcome visitors. Conch shells also were used as ceremonial instruments or as signal horns. To make a horn all that is necessary is to saw off up to an inch of the tip of the spire. With the tip gone a spiral shaped center [called the columella] is exposed. You can chip out about a half inch of the columella and smooth the cut edges to fashion a comfortable mouthpiece to the trumpet. You blow into the horn as you would any trumpet. Your vibrating lips will create the horn sound. Well, the horn is far different than the harmonica or the flute, but the conch was an honored instrument in our native culture. Wado, Bill -=- http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html