The Russian Hurdy Gurdy

I think you'll have to admit that any musical instrument that needs to be cranked is pretty weird. In fact, I don't know of any other than the hurdy gurdy. When you add in this vocalist, you get a pretty weird result.

You can get a whole CD of this stuff if you want!

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 21, 2016
Category: Music | Russia | Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

Comments

Could we declare this the ancestor of the Gizmotron that was featured in October? That device may not require manual input but the result is the same.

Posted by KDP on 12/21/16 at 07:46 AM

With the greatest of pleasure I now give you yet another hand-cranked musical instrument. Your toes will be unable to resist tapping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZj2osA_8wI

Posted by Robb of Warren on 12/21/16 at 07:47 AM

Excellent find, Robb! "The crank organ" lends itself to many double entendres as well.

Posted by Paul on 12/21/16 at 09:18 AM

You can never have too many double entrendres , or too many crank organs.

Posted by Robb of Warren on 12/21/16 at 10:56 AM

Nothing weird about that, Robb... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crdSVxiYbXo Most of those have now been converted to electrical power because it's a slog to keep turning that wheel at the right tempo, but all of them should be hand-crankable too.

Posted by Richard Bos on 12/21/16 at 11:40 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYEJtQzHt70

If I remember correctly (possible, but not likely), Benjamin Franklin's glass armonica used a treadle (like an old sewing machine).

Posted by Phideaux on 12/21/16 at 12:34 PM

Hurdy-gurdys date back back at least to the Middle Ages. A rosined wheel is rubbing against drone strings while the player does the melody by pressing strings against it using a keyboard. Think of an inside out violin with a bow on the inside.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurdy-gurdy

Posted by eddi on 12/21/16 at 08:59 PM

Interestingly enough, it sounds almost exactly like a bagpipe, except that is a stringed instrument rather than a woodwind. An alternative to the pipes for a musician with COPD, perhaps?

Posted by tadchem on 12/22/16 at 07:57 AM

tadchem: I thought it sounded pipey, too. I think it's the drone that does that.

Posted by Richard Bos on 12/22/16 at 09:10 AM

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