US man top conch blower
2010-03-07 21:12
Key West - A sixth-generation Key West resident, who first blew a conch shell as a child, has won the island's 48th annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest in Florida.
Thirty-six-year-old Clinton Curry followed his two-toned toot on Saturday with a portion of composer Aram Khachaturian's Sabre Dance on a single shell, earning applause from several hundred spectators.
Blowing the fluted, pink-lined conch shell has been a Key West tradition since the early 1800s, when seafaring settlers used it as a signalling device. Native-born islanders are known as Conchs, and the Florida Keys are known as the Conch Republic.
More than 40 contestants were judged on quality, novelty, duration and loudness.
- AP