A sixth-generation Key West resident, who first blew a conch shell as a child, played two shells simultaneously to blow away the competition and take top honors Saturday in the island’s 48th annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest.
Clinton Curry, 36, followed his two-toned toot with a portion of composer Aram Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance on a single shell, earning applause from several hundred spectators.
“The thing I like best about blowing the conch shell is that it helps preserve the culture of Key Westers,” Curry said.
The contest drew more than 40 entrants, ranging from young children to seniors, who were judged on the quality, novelty, duration and loudness of the sounds they produced.
The top group entry and audience favorite was a self-described “Conchestra,” whose 22 members performed a conch-shell accompaniment and offbeat dance to a recording of The Village People’s YMCA.
The contest’s youngest entrant, 6-year-old Katie Worth of Big Pine Key, Florida, won the children’s division.
The fluted, pink-lined conch shell has been blown in the Florida Keys since the early 1800s, when seafaring settlers used it as a signaling device. Native-born islanders are commonly called Conchs, and the Keys are known as the Conch Republic. (AFP)
上週六在西嶼舉行的第四十八屆西嶼吹海螺大賽上,一名六代以來都定居在此、從小就開始吹海螺的參賽者同時吹奏兩個海螺,擊敗所有對手奪得冠軍。
現年三十六歲的柯林頓•科瑞以雙螺吹奏完後,再以單一海螺吹奏阿拉姆•哈察都量的「劍舞」,贏得數百名觀眾的熱烈掌聲。
科瑞說:「我之所以那麼喜歡吹海螺,是因為它和保存西嶼居民文化密不可分。」
這場比賽吸引了四十多位老老少少參賽者報名,以海螺吹奏的音色、特質、持續時間及響度作為評分的標準。
自稱「海螺樂隊」的二十二人組合在鄉巴佬合唱團歌曲YMCA的陪襯下,一邊吹奏海螺,一邊跳著怪舞,奪下了團體組冠軍暨最受觀眾歡迎獎。
兒童組冠軍是來自大松嶼、現年六歲的凱娣•渥絲,她也是最年輕的參賽者。
一八00年代初期,仰賴討海維生的佛羅里達群島居民把這種帶著粉紅凹溝的海螺做為發送信號的工具後,吹奏海螺的傳統便延續至今。世人多以「海螺」暱稱當地出生的島民,以「海螺共和國」稱呼該珊瑚群島。(法新社╱翻譯:林倩如)
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