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Monday, 24th September 2007 (4463 views)

A self-proclaimed "kazoo activist" brought a 24-carat version of the humming instrument onto a morning television program to promote her effort to make the kazoo the national instrument of America.

Karen Smith, who works in the shop at the Original Kazoo Company Museum in Eden, New York, showed the historic gold-plated kazoo to host Bill Geist of CBS Sunday Morning, explaining that it must have been designed with "formal kazooing occasions" in mind.

"It's all part of a mission to make the kazoo the national instrument and keep America humming," said Barbara Stewart, who has played "classical kazoo" at the famed Carnegie Hall.

The classically-trained musician told the programme that so far, the campaign to make the kazoo America's national instrument has fallen on deaf ears, with rejections from former presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter.

Ms Stewart's hometown of Rochester, New York recently set the world record for the largest kazoo band, which featured 2,600 players, on New Year's Eve 2006, in an move to spread awareness and respect for the instrument.

 

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