A Bit Of Harmonica History

[hucktunes™]

Here's an interesting bit of history about the harmonica. It seems
that when Napoleon was digging up those old tunes in Egypt he also
uncovered the instruments used to play the tunes. A mouth organ fitted
with reeds, from the Reed Sea. He also discovered that many of the
tomb paintings are actually illustrations of the dance steps used to
accompany the music. Napoleon loved the instrument and the music
and wished to share it with the rest of Europe, so he called it the
Hamphonica, in honor of Ham, the biblical founder of Egypt, and began
on his quest of spreading the joy to the rest of the world. But folks
got the name confused with the Harmonica invented by Ben Franklin a
few years before, and anyway Napoleon had a hard time pronouncing the
hard consonants in the word Hamphonica. The French have what is known
as a lazy tongue and try to avoid consonants, replacing them with
vowels. Probably from eating snails. This is illustrated by the fact
that the word Fiddle, when spoken by a Frenchman, sounds something
like Violin, from which we get that word. In France snails are thought
of as a venison. The dance that accompanies the music came to be known
as Hambone, as depicted in the tomb paintings. Along with the music we
Americans acquired these treasures from Egypt in 1803 with the
Louisiana Purchase. And that is why the Harmonica is known as the
French Harp. Or it could be because you use your tongue to play it.