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Why did ocarinas become popular in American popular music during the 1930s?
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vessel flute
Toad ocarina, slip-painted ceramic, Nopiloa, southern Veracruz, Mexico, 700β900 ce; in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In the 1930s, ocarinas gained popularity in American popular music when different sizes of these globular flutes, often called "sweet potatoes," were played in harmony. The ocarina is a late 19th-century development of traditional Italian carnival whistles, typically an egg-shaped vessel made of clay, metal, or plastic. It functions on the flageolet or fipple flute principle and usually has eight finger holes and two thumbholes. The ocarina is a well-known European example of a vessel flute, a form found in many ancient and modern cultures.12