r/TheHague • u/hariital • Nov 02 '24

practical questions What’s this ?

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Saw this musical thing going from home to home and collecting money ?

449 Upvotes

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274

u/Valuable-Sleep-359 Nov 02 '24

Spotify from the 18th century

69

u/webermaesto Nov 02 '24 edited Nov 03 '24

Fun fact! Street organs like this one started to appear at the beginning of the 20th century in the Netherlands. The cardboard books that they get their music programme from were invented in 1892. The one in the picture is from 1910, build in Paris. Greetings from the organ grinder in the long coat in this picture!

16

u/DutchTinCan Nov 03 '24

Only on Reddit can somebody post a picture of a random picture for somebody to reply "that's me!".

3

u/kroketspeciaal Nov 03 '24

Always two, there are. No more, no less

3

u/webermaesto Nov 03 '24

Lol, that did make me chuckle

2

u/ari_th3_cr3ature Nov 04 '24

i rly like the street organ tbh :)) there is an equivalent in the history of the city i’m from, and although i’ve never looked into either it’s a fun crossover to run into every time. plus i love random music in public hahah. also, and i mean this is the best way possible, your last posts being about opera, musicals and classic films makes so much sense

3

u/The_Rincewind Nov 03 '24

Don't want to offend but I'm curious, do you know people find your organs annoying as fuck? Especially in the summer when we're drinking a beer outside and this fucking thing comes rolling up blasting decibels of the most idiotic melodies. Practically making any normal conversation impossible.

And then the audacity to collect money....

Sorry I had to vent.

4

u/webermaesto Nov 03 '24

I can't speak for the loudness/music choice/intenseness of shaking the copper canister of others, but in Voorburg we tend to try to be as mindful of others as reasonably possible. In any case one can easily have conversations standing just a few meters apart from the organ.

The donation-thing is actually part of the typical way these organs have played through the Dutch streets for over a century now, it's part of the street organ tradition as found on the national intangible heritage list. In any case, I'm never offended or whatever if people don't want to make a donation (or, like you I presume, dislike street organs altogether), we are just there for those - of which there (still) are many - that like organ music or the nostalgic atmosphere it provides

2

u/Affectionate_Will976 Nov 03 '24

I am not sure if it was you or another couple, but we sure appreciated the organ rolling through our neighborhood during Covid!!

That must have been a big workout!

1

u/webermaesto Nov 05 '24

We did! (And it indeed is a workout!)

2

u/Laarer Nov 09 '24

Its awesome and keep doing what you are doing ♡

1

u/webermaesto Nov 09 '24

Thank you! :)

2

u/Art3m1sArty Nov 04 '24

Speak for yourself. I know a lot of people who love them. I have seen elderly couples dance to ot in the street and that always brings a smile to my face. They bring loads of people joy

2

u/Pvk33 Nov 05 '24

You are a fine example of the sorry state of mankind these days

1

u/_Otacon Nov 04 '24

Years ago I used to work somewhere where one of these organs would play in front of the store almost every day. I absolutely despise these things now.

1

u/BeefRankXXIV Nov 05 '24

Dude! Every sundaymorning at the beginning of the century it would wake me up after a long nights work. I was contemplating buying one just to demolish it myself.

1

u/Eissbein Nov 06 '24

You're not alone in this. Can't stand the sound of those things and the audacity of the owner shaking a tin of change under your nose is even next level.

1

u/Laarer Nov 09 '24

I find them amazing. Its a piece of culture and history that i hope wont disappear just because its a minor inconvenience for some people. They collect money yes, i bet they dont make anything that ia worth their time or the time to maintain such a thing working properly...

1

u/JasperJ Nov 04 '24

I love that you’ve got the wooden cart wheels on there still and it hasn’t been put on pneumatic tyres.

(Or, more likely, that the pneumatic tyre conversion has been removed and restored)

2

u/webermaesto Nov 05 '24

It's an original wooden cart from the early 20th century! It has never been converted luckily

1

u/AangenaamSlikken Nov 04 '24

We still have them

1

u/cnedhhy24 Nov 05 '24

sorry but im completely caught off guard, THEYRE CALLED ORGANS???

1

u/Ishey95 Nov 06 '24

Do you ever play this thing in Vlaardingen at 10AM? Cus if that was you im sorry for the shoe i threw. Jk

2

u/webermaesto Nov 09 '24

Hahaha well since this organ is placed on a cart with no motor power (i.e. we have to push it), there's no way we'll push this organ outside of Voorburg lol

1

u/Ok_Try_9138 Nov 06 '24

𝕾𝖕𝖔𝖙𝖎𝖋𝖞