Fairground organ

A fairground organ is a musical organ covering the wind and percussive sections of an orchestra. Originating in Paris, France, these organs were designed for use in commercial fairground settings to provide loud music to accompany rides and attractions, mostly merry-go-rounds. Unlike organs for indoor use, fairground organs are designed to be loud enough to be heard above the noises of crowds and fairground machinery.

As fairgrounds became more mechanised at the end of the nineteenth century, their musical needs grew. The period of greatest activity of fairground organ manufacture and development was the late 1830s, particularly with the opening of the Limonaire Frères company of Avenue Daumesnil, Paris in 1839. Virtually all ambient fairground music continued to be produced by fairground organs and similar pneumatically operated instruments until the advent of effective electrical sound amplification in the mid-1920s. The organ chassis was typically covered with an ornate and florid decorative case façade designed to attract attention in the tradition of most fairground equipment. Giacomo Gavioli patented the use of book music to play organs, which later became the basis of fairground organs. In 1910, Joseph and Antoine Limonaire took over the patents when Gavioli ceased production, leading to limonaire becoming the generic French name for fairground organs.

The ornate case façades frequently had percussion instruments such as a glockenspiel and drums that provided visual entertainment as they played. There were often ornate human figures, such as a conductor whose arm moved in time to the music, or women whose arms struck bells.

The organs were designed to mimic the musical capabilities of a typical human band. For this reason they are known as band organs in the United States.

The motive force for a fairground organ is typically wind under pressure generated from mechanically powered bellows in the instrument's base. Without the need for a human player, the instruments are keyboard-less (except for relatively rare configurations with one or more accordions, whose keys could be seen to move). ^{[citation needed]} Early organs were played by a rotating barrel with the sounds triggered by metal pins, as in a music box. Later organs employed strips of cards perforated with the music data and registration (instrument) controls called book music; or interchangeable rolls of perforated paper called music rolls, similar to those used in player pianos.

Since the advent of computer control (from the early 1970s on), some band organs have been built or converted to be played electronically. Victory, pictured above, is a hybrid of these technologies. Its traditional pneumatic instruments can be played either from traditional perforated books, or from its integrated Yamaha MIDI interface. Owner Willem Kelders can also use the interface to link organs (Rhapsody and Locomotion, driven by Victory) to play the same music together.

Fairground organs have been used in many entertainment settings, including fairground rides static sideshows (such as bioscope shows), amusements parks, and skating rinks. Many can be seen exhibited at steam fairs.

Manufacturers of fairground organs also typically made instruments for indoor use in dance halls, called dance organs; and smaller versions for travelling street use, called street organs.