I know not many people that were not mesmerized by a music box, no matter how small it was. Just the simple fact that turning a lever to produce those wonderful sounds makes many amaze, even audio technicians and sound engineers. That is basically because music boxes are the simplest (yet most complex) forms of producing sound.

Henry Dagg is a former sound engineer for the BBC, as well as a self-styled sound sculptor, that was given a 56,000 pound grant, four years ago, in order to build a gigantic music box that would be solar powered, for the garden of English Folk Dance and Song Society in London. Barely now, after four years of hard work, Dagg's work is finally finished, and named Sharpsichord.

Funny, yet sad, but the monster music box, as rugged and industrial as it looks, is too fragile for the outdoors, so it is now on the lookout for a caring home. You can hear it below, playing "A Long and Winding Road," as long as you ignore the man subtly trying to sing along. The instrument itself is a mean steel machine that sums up two huge gramophones and more than 11,000 holes on the rotating cylinder for pegs that pluck the instrument's tuned strings.

Songs can be programmed peg by peg, note by note, with the song you hear below taking more than a day to set-up. Speaking of the video, you can see the builder cranking his toy, with his collaborator Chris Wood bluffing, but at least keeping it analog, and using a horn rather than a microphone. I really wonder whether the one that will adopt the Sharpsichord will receive that speaking horn too. Nevertheless, this is awaiting its permanent indoor home, but without any mentioning if it's for sale or just a give-away.




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