![Lizzo says she’s the first and only person to have played President James Madison’s 200-year-old crystal flute Lizzo says she’s the first and only person to have played President James Madison’s 200-year-old crystal flute](https://s3.amazonaws.com/syndication.abcaudio.com/files/2022-09-28/M_Lizzo_092822.jpg)
Lizzo says she’s officially the only person in the world to have played President James Madison‘s crystal flute, a relic that is over 200 years old.
For a quick refresher, James Madison is one of America’s founding fathers who helped draft and later signed the Constitution. He also served as the fourth president of the United States between 1809 and 1817. French aristocrat Claude Laurent gifted Madison the flute in 1813 to celebrate his second inauguration.
Lizzo played that same flute during her Tuesday night show in Washington, D.C.’s Capital One Arena.
The Grammy winner shared the moment on Twitter, writing, “NOBODY HAS EVER HEARD THIS FAMOUS CRYSTAL FLUTE BEFORE. NOW YOU HAVE.”
“IM THE FIRST & ONLY PERSON TO EVER PLAY THIS PRESIDENTIAL 200-YEAR-OLD CRYSTAL FLUTE,” she continued and thanked the Library of Congress for the rare, high honor.
In the video, the singer jokes she has to be careful with it because “it’s like playing out of a wine glass.”
Lizzo plays a few notes while shaking her booty then declares, “B****, I just twerked and played James Madison’s crystal flute from the 1800s! We just made history tonight!” She also shouted out the library “for preserving our history and making history freaking cool.”
So, how did this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity happen? Carla Hayden, the librarian of Congress, tweeted out to Lizzo ahead of her show about the institute having “the largest flute collection in the world” and made specific mention of the crystal flute while inviting her to play a couple of them.
Lizzo, a classically trained flutist, obviously only wanted to play one.
The Library believes former first lady Dolley Madison saved the flute during the War of 1812, when British troops torched Washington, D.C.– and the White House — in 1814.
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