The hurdy-gurdy is one of Europe's oldest musical instruments. A kind of mechanical violin, it uses keys and a crank, along with melody and drone strings. Some call it the medieval synthesizer, and a ...

MS reader Mike W. sent us the following video from This is Colossal of a dude playing the hurdy gurdy, an instrument with which you’re likely familiar only if you’re a regular Ren Faire attendee or a ...

We recently attended a fantastic talk and performance at the library by Tomás Lozano about an instrument that dates back to ...

It’s a throwback to vintage optical instruments, a decidedly fringe strain of music-making pioneered by Edwin Emil Welte’s Light-Tone Organ in 1936 and realized within the consumer market as the ...

Twenty-seven years ago, in search of a hurdy-gurdy master, Donald Heller wandered into a music shop in Budapest. There, he saw a beautiful maiden, an ancient-looking stringed instrument in her lap, ...

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The hurdy-gurdy is the duck-billed platypus of instruments. It has strings but you don’t pick or strum them. It ...

Stringed instruments bowed by a wheel cranked by hand have been around for centuries, and come in many shapes and sizes. Inspired by 16th century instruments, mechanical model maker UGears has created ...

The only difference was, bagpipes usually sound like a polyphonic assembly while this sound seems like a lone voice shrewdly culled from such an assembly, singled out, groomed up and presented to us ...

Yes, there is a Hurdy-Gurdy Man. There’s also a Hurdy-Gurdy Woman. And a Hurdy-Gurdy Baby. “He’s the Hurdy-Gurdy Baby,” confirmed Donald Heller, looking over at his son Gaspar, 19 months, who seemed ...

An error has occurred. Please try again. With a The Portland Press Herald subscription, you can gift 5 articles each month. It looks like you do not have any active ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. PURCHASED FROM: E. Pinkus, New York, ...