In France, Rabelais in the mid-16th century in his Gargantua and Pantagruel makes this practice explicit, stating that,
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Grimm's Deutsches Wörterbuch s.v. "Kuhschelle" points to a 1410 mention in a Frankfurt archive; the OED lists 1440 as the earliest attestation of a bell-wether, the leading sheep of a flock, on whose neck a bell is hung.
John Whooley – tenor, alto, baritone and soprano saxophones, flute, vocals, throat singing, percussion (congas, clave, guiro, shaker, tambourine, woodblock, cowbell), accordion, piano, cp-70, electric piano, clav
They were initially Parang players - Jit on guitar pan, Girlie on cowbell, Vidya on the drums, Baboolal on maracas, and brother Sonilal on scratcher - but by 14, already a self-confessed "slave to steelpan", Jit joined the Lever Brothers Canboulay Steelband.