King Tut’s Trumpet

Our brand new Ancient Egypt video includes rapping (and unwrapping) mummies, hieroglyphic-decoding explorers and a tour of the pyramids. And behind the beat on the hook, we included an actual relic from Ancient Egypt.

The sound you hear at the end of the song comes from King Tut’s trumpet. While unearthing King Tut’s tomb in 1922, archaeologists found a lot of cool stuff that belonged to King Tut: the first-ever sofa bed, 30 boomerangs used for hunting, and two beautiful trumpets. One trumpet was silver, the other was copper. Both were decorated with ornate carvings.

In 1939, someone decided they wanted to try playing it. BBC radio was there to record the beautiful ancient sound. The trumpet, which hadn’t been played in more than 3,000 years, let out a few graceful notes. Then it shattered. Oops.

You can listen to King Tut’s trumpet it in our Ancient Egypt rap and video. And learn more about Tut’s trumpet here.