Indian "Piano"? What is this?

Anyone ever see one of these before?  It looks like some sort of accordian/piano thingie! 
 

HARMONIUM!!!

God, I hate it when I answer my own question!!!  LOL.

bapu


Harmonium.

Just pretend you did not see your post.

Uh, what post?!

Something from before the age of steam.

How long until someone spreads rumors about the Flintstones Plug In as a feature in Sonar 9? 

Nevermind.  Too late.

So, is this the Indian equivalent of Bagpipes?  If so, is it less irritating?  (Sorry, that was uncalled for.)

As a mechanical keyboard instrument, is it similar to an organ grinder's street organ?  If so, I would consider the organ grinder to have the edge.  All things being equal, at least an organ grinder has a monkey.  How many times have you been working on a project, looked at each band member's vapid face, and thought "Man, I'd kill to get a monkey on this project!"

I'm not saying the harmonium is the vuvuzela of its era, but they could use a couple of monkeys in the live show. 

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonium

"During the mid-19th century missionaries brought French-made hand-pumped harmoniums to India. The instrument quickly became popular there: it was portable, reliable and easy to learn. It has remained popular to the present day, and the harmonium remains an important instrument in many genres of Indian music. It is commonly found in Indian homes. Though derived from the designs developed in France, the harmonium was developed further in India in unique ways, such as the addition of drone stops and a scale changing mechanism. In Kolkata, Dwarkanath Ghose of the Dwarkin company modified the imported harmony flute and developed the hand held harmonium, which has subsequently become an integral part of the Indian music scenario.[3] Dwijendranath Tagore is credited with having used the imported instrument in 1860 in his private theatre, but it was probably a pedal-pumped instrument which was cumbersome, or possibly some variation of the reed organ. Initially, it aroused curiosity but gradually people started playing it[4] and Ghose took the initiative to modify it.[3] It was in response to the Indian needs that the hand-held harmonium was introduced. All Indian musical instruments are played with the musician sitting on the floor or on a stage, behind the instrument or holding it in his hands. In that era, Indian homes did not use tables and chairs.[3] Also, Western music being harmonically based, both a player's hands were needed to play the chords, thus assigning the bellows to the feet was the best solution; Indian music being melodically based, only one hand was necessary to play the melody, the other hand was free for the bellows.
The harmonium was widely accepted in Indian music, particularly Parsi and Marathi stage music, in the late 19th century. By the early 20th century, however, in the context of nationalist movements that sought to depict India as utterly separate from the West, the harmonium came to be portrayed as an unwanted foreigner. Technical concerns with the harmonium included its inability to produce meendandolan, gentle oscillation) so crucial to many ragas; the latter prevents it from articulating the subtle differences in intonational color between a given svara in two different ragas. For these reasons, it was banned from All-India Radio from 1940 to 1971. (Indeed, a ban still stands on harmonium solos.) On the other hand many of the harmonium's qualities suited it very well for the newly-reformed classical music of the early 20th century: it is easy for amateurs to learn; it supports group singing and large voice classes; it provides a template for standardized raga grammar; it is loud enough to provide a drone in a concert hall. For these reasons, it has become the instrument of choice for accompanying most North Indian classical vocal genres, though it is still despised as a foreigner by many connoisseurs of Indian music, who prefer the sarangi as an accompanying instrument for khyal singing. (slides between notes) and the fact that, once tuned, it cannot be adjusted in the course of performance. The former prevents it from articulating the subtle inflections (such as
A popular usage is by followers of various Hindu and Sikh faiths, who use it in the devotional singing of prayers, called bhajan or kirtan. There will be at least one harmonium in any mandir (Hindu temple) or gurdwara (Sikh temple) around the world. The harmonium is also commonly accompanied by the tabladholak. To Sikhs the harmonium is known as the vaja/baja. It is also referred to as a "Peti" (A loose reference to a "Box") in some parts of North India and Maharashtra. as well as a
The harmonium plays an integral part in Qawwali music. Almost all Qawwals use the harmonium as their sole musical accompaniment. It has received international fame as the genre of Qawwali music has been popularized by renowned Pakistani musicians such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan."


Now I want one.