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A Brief and Annoying History of Kazoo Orchestras

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A Brief and Annoying History of Kazoo Orchestras

Paul Collins
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A membranophone belonging to the mirliton (or “eunuch flute”) family, the kazoo has a deep and profound history; and of the playing of many kazoos at once, we find a correlative history even deeper and more profound. In 1667, John Milton wrote of a massed kazoo chorus:

At length a universal hubbub wilde

Of stunning sounds and voices all confus’d

Born through the hollow dark assaults his eare

With loudest vehemence…

And Tumult and Confusion all imbroil’d,

And Discord with a thousand various mouths.

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