Twenty three years at Keukenhof

The picture that you saw last time was a Street Organ being played in that canopy.

This is the 26th year the organ is playing at Keukenhof. As soon as you enter the main entrance, the music from the organ greets you. I was intrigued about the whole setup and how it is played. Spent some time observing the mechanical aspect of it.  Built in 1978 from old organ parts, this was named after an old windmill from Harlem.

The Adriaen plays on the perforated book system invented in 1897. Something similar to the perforated cards used in the early computers.

There was a time when these holes were punched by hand, a tedious and laborious task.

The first step was to make a paper template with all the markings on it by placing the paper on a table with a ruler system on it.

After marking, this paper was glued on a carton (card board). Then the holes were cut out as per the markings with chisels of different sizes.

Percussion notes of 6 mm holes, the bass drum of 8 mm holes and so on. The longest holes sometimes require several punches to get the desired note length. It was really laborious as this video will tell you.  

Later Mr Francois created a machine. The idea was to create a machine to cut the boards.

In their own words “we are not carpenters building instruments, but we are musicians making wooden constructions to make music”

Coming back to the Adriaen, looking at these clappers, one can imagine how perfect the timing has to be to get the perfect beat on the bars or the drums. 

They have a collection of old as well as new songs in those perforated books.

I purchased one of the CDs that they sell, but I feel that the visual (and the audio) effect is much greater when you stand close to that organ.

You can watch and listen to the organ here:

Imagine these four ladies standing here and ringing the bell year after when new flowers bloomed in the garden.

 Tulipa Mascara

 Tulipa Madonna Geel

Tulipa Cartouche

Peter George and the church organ

About two months ago I read a small article in the papers about a man who had been playing the church organ for the last fifty years.

For some this may not be a great feat, as there are musicians who continue playing their musical instruments for many decades. But here is one gentleman (Peter George) who has been playing the same organ sitting on the same bench in the same church for the last fifty years. I consider his devotion and dedication to music as extraordinary.  

I decided to meet this organist and it was not a difficult task as he was from Pune and had been playing the organ at St Paul’s church.

This church itself was worth mentioning as it was erected in 1867 on the lines of the St Chapelle church in Paris.  I liked this small little “door” on the side from where one could see the organ. (I wonder what was the purpose of this small door from which just one person could pass through)

Peter George shifted from Tamil Nadu to Pune when he was 11 years old. He comes from a family who were musically inclined and his father used to play the violin. At the age of 12 he started learning the piano from Ms Lalita Savarkar who taught him church music. Later in 1962 (when he was 20) he started playing the organ in St Peter’s church.

There was a special service held in the church on  30^th of June on the occasion of his completing 50 years as an organist. I decided to attend the service and it was a solemn moment for me.

The quaint little church had its own charm and the music from the fingertips of George reverberated through the church.

I liked the small little brochure that was prepared for the occasion and liked the picture on the last page.

I managed to capture some of the moments and made a short movie of it which is attached at the end of this post.

While clicking I was taken in by the books that he referred to. These weather beaten books has seen better days but it was still used by George with reverence and love.

The organ itself was worth having a closer look and I could see that some of the push pull knobs were still in tact, and so were the foot pedals. India once had over 200 pipe organs, now it stands at approximately 80.

In George’s own words “Whatever talent has been given to me by God, should be used to serve Him”  He has not set any deadline and wishes to continue playing the organ as long as he can.  I wish him many more years of romancing the keys.
PS: Sad to say that Mr Peter George passed away on 8th July 2025

Enoch Daniels

There was a time when you wanted to enjoy music, the options were limited. The only audio source was the radio. Most of the time it was  AIR (All India Radio), or if one had a good band spread (like a five band radio) then one was lucky to get Radio Ceylon or VOA (Voice of America) or the BBC.

Coming back to the AIR, I enjoyed listening to some selected programs and one of them was a fifteen minute slot for instrumentals. Somehow I always preferred instrumental to the actual singing. Some of the famous instrumental players of those times were Enoch Daniels on the accordion and Van Shipley on the guitar. It was a pleasure to listen to them, even during the time when there were no stereo recordings.

As for the accordion I always wondered how they coordinated the movements of pressing the keys with the right hand and the bass buttons with the left hand. And that puts a thought in my mind, how does a left handed guy play an accordion?

Recently I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Enoch Daniels by a mutual friend. When I told him about being his fan, he narrated his story about how he almost joined the Indian Army, till one of his close friends pointed out about the choice of career and his God given gift of creating music.

That made him think twice about joining the Army and from there on it was smooth sailing for him. He was one of the first to introduce the accordion in India.

Here he is with Van Shipley and Talat Mehmood during one of their trips to Europe.

I think he is the only artist who was selected by Columbia to cut 40 records (all solo) This was after he was ‘noticed’ during his performance at the Royal Albert Hall London. 

 With Mohammed Rafi, one of the best singers India had.

I must say he looks good and moves around very briskly for a person who is almost eighty. He was ready to change location for a better background when our mutual friend tried to click us. 

I wanted the pictures to be sort of ‘candid’ but it turned out that I was the only one looking candid while Enoch did not play his part of being ‘candid’ :-)

The background here is the 145 year old  St Paul’s church in Pune,  one of the well maintained churches that I have seen.

More on the church and the 100 year old pipe organ in my next post.