"Sweet Child O' Mine" on a 100-year-old Dutch Street Organ

A street organ is the instrument used by organ grinders going back to the 15th century. They became more elaborate, and the Dutch street organ (draaiorgel) is an entire wagon with a full set of pipes in a wide array of voices and often percussion included, yet it is still all mechanical, powered by air. We assume it's compressed air, because you can imagine grinding one will exhaust you. James the Mechanical Music Man has a hundred-year-old draaiorgel named Blauwtje. The music is recorded digitally on folded and perforated cardboard, fed into the mechanism much the same as a music box or a player piano. But it's not just old music- these "music books" are still being made to play familiar modern tunes like Guns 'n' Roses' hit "Sweet Child O' Mine." Read about how the draaiorgel works, the history of street organs, and how you can hire Blauwtje or another antique mechanical instrument at The Mechanical Music Man website. -via Everlasting Blort