Bursens Cafe Organ

I peek inside the case at the inner workings of the Hack’s Bursens organ during the MBSI chapter party.

[@AbramMartinez-p5d]

That song is beautiful

[@leilanirocks]

My German great-grandfather would have DANCED to this, brother! 🪗

[@timbithar1]

those fluttering pipes are awesome

[@DuoArtOrgan]

Timothy Harnish Those are called Jazz Flutes and give Belgian organs a very distinctive sound.

[@arburo1]

In addition to the jazz flutes, Arburo also have a general tremulant on the melody chest. This is more subtle, but is not very often used by the arrangers in the music rolls.

[@ConacherOrgan]

What a gorgeous example ! The only other i've seen quite in this condition is that in the Museum Speelklok when I visited last year, its a credit to the restorer.

[@jokevandevlught8137]

Ex Kurt Elbers

[@andrewbarrett1537]

According to a page in "Treasures of Mechanical Music", about 49 Bursens organs were bought from Mr. Arthur Bursens himself by Q. David Bowers, Terry Hathaway and Claes O. Friberg (I think), in the 1960s, and imported into the USA by Hathaway and Bowers. This is known as the famous "Bursens Warehouse Hoard", as Mr. Bursens had (I think) had the organs out on location in various Belgian cafes, coin operated(?) and making money(?). As fashions changed and newer organs with electronic sounds replaced them, he took them back and put them in his warehouse, storing them carefully until Mr. Bowers fortunately came along. The American collectors were fascinated with these instruments as excepting a couple of Mortier dance organs and a Decap, almost no Belgian dance organ had come to the USA prior to the collector importation activity of the 1960s and later. So, these instruments were pretty 'exotic' and unfamiliar compared with the band and fairground organs the collectors knew about. The story goes that Mr. Bowers had prepared a special catalog of these Bursens organs listing all of them etc, but listed a few as a 'teaser' in one of the Hathaway and Bowers sale catalogs (in with all the other instruments). However, the instruments sold so quick (just based on the few listings in the regular H & B catalogs with a few photos and descriptions, plus an LP they produced of one of them playing), with orders piling up from all over the country, that within a few months (years?) all the organs had sold and so the special catalog was never actually published!

[@andrewbarrett1537]

In addition to the Hathaway and Bowers / American International Galleries resale activity, I know that both Wallace McPeak in Texas and G. W. MacKinnon in Charlotte, North Carolina (who also later bought out the H & B Santa Fe Springs showroom to establish a West Coast branch location) imported several other Arthur Bursens Arburo orchestrions as well (plus a few "Ideal" organs built by his brother Alfons/Alphonse Bursens). So I presume more than 49 organs eventually made their way over here, although I don't have/know an exact number. This is not counting several Bursens Dutch street organs that have also been imported to the USA over the years.

[@angelsone-five7912]

Aaaah! So that`s how they got the warble, thank you very much.

[@arburo1]

It's called a Jazz Flute. the Tremulant is on its own key so the wide scaled flute pipes can play either straight or with vibrato. The Arburo also has a general tremulant, which puts a warble onto the main wind feed of the melody register. This is not used very often by most roll arrangers.

[@weberorchestrion5160]

wonderful!

[@albertweiss]

Wonderful Video, thank you!

[@wreckstoracecars]

Amazing!

[@nicklavorata1653]

Can some one tell me the name of this song please