Auld Lang Syne on a Yamaha L-20D

video upload by Benjamin Dehli

"Playing an excerpt from Auld Lang Syne on a Yamaha L-20D electric harmonium / reed organ 🎹"

https://www.dehlimusikk.no

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Happy New Year everyone!

The above video by Benjamin Dehli went up yesterday on the 31st, and I figured it would be an appropriate start to the New Year - something vintage that harkens back to the pre-synth age, but new to the site. This is actually the first post to feature the Yamaha L-20D. Aparently it's an electric harmonium as opposed to an electonics-based harmonium like the Telharmonium (click and scroll down for additional posts). If anyone knows more about the Yamaha L-20D and/or when it was released, feel free to leave a comment.

I found the following brief discripton from this forum:

"Yamaha harmonium - looks like it dates from the 60's or 70's in great condition. I've tried to find out info about these on the net for ages but there doesn't seem to be ANYTHING out there on it. This plugs into the mains and it sort of whirs up - like a mini leslie rotating speaker and when you play you can feel the wind coming out of it. It also has a sort of knee pedal that you can use to alter the volume. sometimes there's a bit of a buzz overall but it seems to depend on the day and the weather but a great vintage sound.No outputs on this but has built in speaker so would be great for micing up and recording."

There is no mention of it on Wikipedia as of this post. That said, it sounds like the electric portion powers the airflow, so it's likely closer to a classic wind based harmonium (click for additional posts) than an electronics based harmonium like the Telharmonium. Note via 120years.net, "The Telharmonium can be considered the first significant electronic musical instrument and was a method of electro-magnetically synthesising and distributing music over the new telephone networks of victorian America."

I also found the following video from four years ago.

Music for a Found Harmonium (Cover) on a Yamaha L-20D

video upload by Benjamin Dehli

"Music for a Found Harmonium by Penguin Cafe Orchestra played on a Yamaha L-20D electric harmonium / reed organ. All the sounds is created with the organ and recorded with a matched pair of AKG C451E."

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Happy New Year!

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