barrel organ

Barrel organ player and opera vocalist Matti Pasanen performing on Kerava Day 2005 at Kerava Museum. Photo: Anneli Salo. To this day, organ grinders can be found at outdoor events or market places in the summertime. Still, the actual number of active organ grinders is difficult to estimate. Some 30–40 people have a barrel organ, and there are about 15 active hobbyists that are known to some degree. There are about half a dozen professional or semi-professional organ grinders in the country. The most famous and active professional organ grinder in Finland for the past 30 years has been Hämeenlinna-native Teuvo Ylitalo, who played the barrel organ as his primary profession. Harri Karvonen, also known as ‘Posetiivari Rodolfo’ (Organ Grinder Rodolfo), has toured the country as the organ grinder for Circus Finlandia, for example. Markku Savijärvi plays actively to collect money for various charities. Matti Pasanen is a professional singer who also performs with a barrel organ. Other famous organ grinders who play part-time alongside other work include Tapio Ruotsalainen, a.k.a. ‘Posetiivari Alfred’, comedian Vesa Ruuska, piano tuner Jarmo Saitajoki and Kimmo Panula, a.k.a. ‘Posetiivari Josef’. The most significant collection of barrel organs and knowledge about the instruments is held by the Kempf family, which maintains the Mechanical Music Museum in Varkaus. It is a hub for the art alongside the Suomen Posetiivarit Organ Grinders’ Association, as many enthusiasts have acquired an instrument through the Kempf family and maintain it with the help of their expertise. The majority of the barrel organs in Finland have at some point passed through the hands of Jürgen or Pawel Kempf. There are only a couple of organ grinders in Finland who actively and regularly perform on the streets. The players listed above, along with a few other barrel organ owners, can be booked to perform at various private or corporate celebrations, openings, shop campaigns, summer events, markets and fairs, art events, theatre and circus performance, and so on. Some organ grinders even visit day care centres and nursing homes and sheltered housing units for the elderly. Organ grinders are often requested to play at charity events that require entertainment, music and some visual flair. It is almost impossible to estimate the number of total annual performances. However, only a small portion of Finns say they have ever seen a live organ grinder. The tones of a barrel organ have been heard, for example, on the tours of Circus Finlandia and at Särkänniemi and Linnanmäki amusement parks in Tampere and Helsinki, respectively. The Suomen Posetiivarit Association has made efforts to maintain regular concert and communication activities. Barrel organ concerts at churches have been particularly popular. In recent years, international barrel organ festivals that have also landed in Finland have gained the most visibility. The Mechanical Music Museum organised events according to the Central European model in Joensuu in 1985 and in Varkaus in 1991 and 2004. In 2007, the Posetiivifestivaalit Barrel Organ Festival Association kicked off a series of international barrel organ festivals held in Hämeenlinna. The Suomen Posetiivarit Association got involved in 2009, and the festival became further established in 2012. The event has always featured 25–30 performers from Central and Northern Europe. The festival guests have performed in various free concerts and have taken to the streets. In 2015, the event grew into the Finnish-Estonian FinEst festival, which involved some 40 performers, two countries and over 10 municipalities. Finnish organ grinders have sought to expand their repertoire to meet the tastes of the audience by commissioning transcriptions of Finnish music for their organs. The largest collection of such transcriptions, which includes dozens of pieces, was held by Teuvo Ylitalo. Some Finnish organ grinders have also performed at international events, such a