There's something about the sound of a street organ that just makes me quiver with happiness. Here's an album that I found in exquisite condition, hardly played, cover perfect and without a mark on it. The back cover explains better than I what it's all about.
Long before radio and television became general property, the street organ was bringing music to everyone.
The sound and the instrument came from Italy and passed north by way of France and Belgium to the Netherlands. Here the street organ found its spiritual home. we can feel confident that however modern and streamlined life may become in t he future, the organ grinder pushing and playing his street organ will remain a familiar sight. Romance is not quite dead! Besides, the music is so distinctive. Whoever hears the sound of the street organ is immediately under its spell. Whether the tune be gay or sentimental, the street organ makes it 'hummable' - something that sticks in the mind.
By far the most famous street organ is known as "De Arabier" (named after the painting of an Arab on the front panel), and it is this instrument which you hear on this record. This organ was built by Pierre Verbeek in Antwerp in 1928. Later, G.Perlee of Amsterdam adjusted it and rebuilt it, and may now be heard in the northern town of Groningen: a beautifully decorated instrument with a rich, gay tone.
"De Arabier" is capable of playing many tunes and it tackles them all in its own inimitable style - a style which is famous throughout Holland and, increasingly so, abroad.
This record demonstrates the international range of the repertoire od "De Arabier", bringing you fourteen tunes from several different countries.
Koekoewals (The Cuckoo Waltz)
Red roses for a blue lady
Petit fleur
This land is your land
La vie en rose
Whispering hope
Jealousy
Ramona
The carousel waltz
Grootvaders klok (Grandfather's clock)
Charmaine
In the chapel in the moonlight
Wonderful Copenhagen
Land of hope and glory
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