In the wired marketplace, the distance between ‘what is that’ and ‘I want that’ has gotten much shorter. And that’s as true for obscure/niche goods as it is for more mainstream items. Take the Hurdy Gurdy, for instance. I’d say that’s a safe bet for a niche product in 2008. Maybe you have Hurdy Gurdys on the brain because a particular Donovan song is lodged in your subconscious. Or perhaps you have recently fallen in love with Eastern European folk music, and are hypnotized by a strange, pulsing drone/dancing melody and want to know what is making it. So you bring up your portal of record and begin some research.

H…u…r…d…y… G…u…r…d…y

[Enter]. If you’re Googling, you get a Wikipedia entry in pole position, superseded only by a single paid search listing. Below that are a few builders, a series of YouTube videos, and plenty of Hurdy Gurdy revivalists forming clubs around the country. “I am not alone!”, you say. You can discover the principles of construction and learn about the history of this instrument on Wikipedia. And you can see players of all levels have a crack at the instrument - some “How To”s, and many “How Not To”s. Enough to give you a sense of what it takes to learn to play, and what to expect.

And then you find THIS.

And you sit in awe, watching Gilles Chabenat, a master of the Hurdy Gurdy show you that it is in some ways the very first Synthesizer, some sort of Baroque-period Moog (I refer you to the 4:50 mark for more on that.) And that’s it… you’re hooked. And you’re on the hunt for one. If only you knew where to find a builder.

But wait. You do. H… u… r… d…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 7:52 pm and is filed under Communication, Leisure, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.