Draaiorgel Radio

Website: https://draaiorgel-radio.nl/
URL Stream: https://stream.draaiorgel-radio.nl/stream

Draaiorgel Radio’s motto says it all: “The most beautiful organ music 24 hours a day.” But not just any organ music, barrel organ music. “Draaiorgel” means barrel organ in English. We’re all familiar with organs. Four years ago, I brought you Mechanical Music Radio and three years ago, I brought you American Theater Organ Society Radio. But what’s a barrel organ? Is it made out of barrels? According to Wikipedia, “A barrel organ (also called roller organ or crank organ) is a French mechanical musical instrument consisting of bellows and one or more ranks of pipes housed in a case, usually of wood, and often highly decorated. The basic principle is the same as a traditional pipe organ, but rather than being played by an organist, the barrel organ is activated either by a person turning a crank, or by clockwork driven by weights or springs. The pieces of music are encoded onto wooden barrels (or cylinders), which are analogous to the keyboard of the traditional pipe organ.”

So, why would someone start an Internet radio station dedicated to barrel organ music? Why not? According to the station’s website, “Our platform is a passion project with no commercial interests, focused on sharing our love for this unique musical form.”

Photo from draaiorgel-radio.nl

I don’t know how many tracks are in DR’s music library, but the website lists nearly 500-barrel organ records and CDs, and the station is continually adding new music. Who knew there was so much barrel organ music? “Our music collection”, the website states, “is the result of over 15 years of research, collecting, and a passion for barrel organ music. LPs, CDs, cassette tapes, our own recordings, acquired collections, finds on Marktplaats [Netherland’s version of eBay], eBay, and flea markets—we’ve used everything to build the most complete musical archive possible.

A 33-piece Ruth & Sohn Concert Organ circa 1925. Photo from draaiorgel-radio.nl

Beautiful Bruder

“Over the years,” the website continues, “this has grown into a rich collection of street organ music from the Netherlands and abroad: Dutch, German, French, Belgian, English, and even American repertoire is featured. The emphasis is, of course, on the large Dutch street organs, but a beautiful Bruder or an impressive Ruth also strike a chord with us.”

“The pieces of music are encoded onto wooden barrels (or cylinders), which are analogous to the keyboard of the traditional pipe organ.”

White’s Mammoth Gavioli organ circa 1909 is the largest fairground organ ever built and operates on electricity. Photo from draaiorgel-radio.nl/

Roll Out the Barrel

One thing I learned is that there are many different models of barrel organs. The above mentioned Bruder and Ruth. The station’s website lists an additional 30+ types of organs…The Corsican, The Mammoth Gavioli, The Great Dorus, and so many more. Most of these are beautiful instruments that approach works of art. Since these are street instruments, they’re designed to entertain but also to catch people’s attention visually as well as musically.

Barrel organs typically play polkas, waltzes, folk, simplified classical works, and patriotic songs. Keep in mind, these instruments were intended to draw a crowd and get people dancing or singing. Some of the music you’ll hear on DR include Diverse Ruth & Sohn- Konzerto, De Witte Wellerhaus- Anneke, Het Vierkantje- The Village, – ‘t Piepenrek March of the Medici, Fata Morgana- Ungarisch Lustspiel Overture, De Rosita- Gold & Silver Waltz, Played with Two Organs- Jurafahrt, 97 Key Mortar Organ Four Columns- The Great Wldo Pepper March, Spinning Rod – The Rosita, De Witte Wellerhaus- Anneke, The Pansfluiter- It’s A Night, Gypsy Princess- The Sweet Voice, Barrel Organ Successes Vol. 1- The Red Square, The Blue Pillar- Medley 1574, The Buffalo- Viagra Mars, 110 Key Marenghi Organ- Action Front, and The Pansfluiter- World Without You.

During my listening sessions, I was quite surprised to hear Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. The latter was performed by a 118 key Verbeeck Concertorgan. You haven’t experienced Bohemian Rhapsody until you’ve heard it on a barrel organ. Then there was Chiquitita by ABBA, from Beautiful Barrel Organ Melodies, an album that should be in everyone’s collection (not). And let us not forget Heigh-Ho from Snow White courtesy of the National Museum of Mechanical Musical Instruments (NMMMI). I think I just found a song more annoying than It’s A Small World Afterall. Yes, the barrel organ’s repertoire knows no bounds.

If you think hearing pop songs was unexpected, imagine my reaction when I heard Ave Maria! I’ve heard Schubert’s beautiful work performed on a church pipe organ, but a barrel organ performance is almost sacrilegious. Another piece I heard on Draaiorgel Radio that I was used to hearing on a traditional pipe organ was Toccata and Fugue. I’ll bet Bach is spinning in his grave. Then there was Mozart’s Eine Klein Nachtmusik, which on a barrel organ, sounds anything like a little night music.

I’ll admit I got confused at one point when I heard Auld Lang Syne performed by a music box rather than a barrel organ. To my surprise, I discovered that music boxes are closely related to barrel organs since they both use barrels to produce music. The difference is that music boxes use steel pins to pluck a steel barrel, while barrel organs use pins to lift keys that open valves to allow air to flow through pipes. According to Google, some small street barrel organs were basically large, portable music boxes using pipes instead of a steel barrel or comb.

The station founder, Reinko Kuperus, is currently working on making the song metadata consistent, but in general, the information includes the title of the CD/LP and/or the organ model, followed by the name of the song. Hopefully he’ll perform some clean up at the same time, as I saw incorrect song titles like On A Persian Market instead of In and Beguin the Beguin instead of Beguine.

Trivia (from Wikipedia): “A person (or in some cases, a trained animal) who plays a barrel organ is known as an organ grinder.”

Trivia (from Smithsonianmag.com): Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet (a 15th century knight’s manor) in Rudesheim, Germany is home to over 350 mechanical musical instruments ranging from tiny music boxes to the bus-sized Orchestrion.

To tune this station on your Como Audio music system, go to Station list > Stations > Search stations > Type in “Draaiorgel” and select “OK” on the right > Select the station from the list.

Met dank aan Peter Skiera van Recommended Stations voor het schrijven van dit artikel en het verlenen van toestemming om delen te gebruiken.
https://recommendedstations.com
https://www.patreon.com/RecommendedStations/membership