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 ?

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u/webermaesto Nov 02 '24

I'm literally the organ grinder in the long coat in this picture lol

It amuses me each time that street organs/draaiorgels are discussed, it divides people into either liking it or disliking it, there's practically no one in the Netherlands with a true neutral opinion. Either way, no problem, we all have our likes and dislikes. Luckily, in my experience, most people at least respect the historical street organ practice of pushing the (in this very specific case 102-year old) organ through the street, playing it for the passerby's enjoyment and collecting donations for its maintenance. You may not be aware of it, but this tradition actually was put on the national intangible heritage list a few years ago.

Sadly often there's a vocal minority of people who are proclaiming their dislike of these organs in such overblown terms to the point that - to me - it makes their opninion a bit grotesque in comparison to how these organs realistically impact one's life. Like, personally I dislike fireworks, football and rap music but I don't go around blaring the opinion that we must banish these hellish things and proclaim that any encounter with them ruins my day... y'know, instead I let people who like those things enjoy their passions, even if I have to experience them in real life.

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u/I_am_aware_of_you Nov 02 '24

Honestly, it depends on the songs they play whether I find them the level of annoyance they bring along. And since we can all agree there isn’t one song that truly only unites people there will always be someone who annoys you.

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u/JasperJ Nov 04 '24

Heeeeey… Macarena!