On this album, Bram Stadhouders & The Big Barrel Organ guitarist Stadhouders plays the biggest transportable dancehall organ in the world, The Rhapsody, using guitar and MIDI, mixing composition and pure improvisation.
The musician is the first in the world to do this, which is why he can be called the first dancehall organ guitarist. It is a

On this album, Bram Stadhouders & The Big Barrel Organ guitarist Stadhouders plays the biggest transportable dancehall organ in the world, The Rhapsody, using guitar and MIDI, mixing composition and pure improvisation.
The musician is the first in the world to do this, which is why he can be called the first dancehall organ guitarist. It is a crazy and adventurous project.

The history of dancehall organs goes back to 1850, when the first dance organs were made. In Belgium and the south of Holland especially, the organ became immensely popular as a precursor of the jukebox. In cafés, fairs and dancehalls, the organs were playing the latest hits. Besides the many organ pipes, dance organs are often equipped with extra instruments such as accordions, percussion and saxophones. Between 1910 and 1930, thousands of dance organs were built. You could find one in almost every dancehall. However, as the loudspeaker made its way into the public, these organs were banned to museums or private collectors.

Guitarist Bram Stadhouders thinks that’s a shame, so he went on an investigation. After playing on the dance organ The Busy Drone in Orgelpark Amsterdam, he discovered that many dance-organs now work with MIDI, which means you can play them with any instrument that can send MIDI. As he went on to look for a transportable dance organ, he found The Rhapsody, which was only a stone’s throw from his birthplace Tilburg in the south of Holland. The Rhapsody organ is 7 meters long and 5 meters high, has more than 800 organ pipes, 12 percussion instruments as well as 2 accordions, and weighs more than 5 tons.

“When composing contemporary music for these organs, you hear totally unique sounds, a mix between electronic and acoustic sounds. The dance-organ is really the first synthesizer. The way we choose sounds on any synthesizer is derived from the barrel organ,” says Stadhouders. The guitarist feels that he’s “made for this project”, a concept that he’s been waiting for all his life.

A glorious modern mystery play in six hallucinating chapters. In the mesmerizing sound ritual 'Cantata', Bram Stadhouders explores an uncultivated musical world. After his successful project 'Henosis', a composition for the Netherlands Chamber Choir and his improvisation trio commissioned by the North Sea Jazz Festival 2012, new paths reveal

A glorious modern mystery play in six hallucinating chapters. In the mesmerizing sound ritual 'Cantata', Bram Stadhouders explores an uncultivated musical world. After his successful project 'Henosis', a composition for the Netherlands Chamber Choir and his improvisation trio commissioned by the North Sea Jazz Festival 2012, new paths reveal themselves for sound adventurer and improviser Bram Stadhouders. After a large-scale work, he now chooses for an intense intimacy. Three musicians on stage telling a mystical story where centuries of music drama conspire mysteriously. From spiritual madrigal art to electrifying Baroque to contemporary opera and energetic trance that stimulates all the senses. Influences seem to flood from all sides, but with a steady hand, Stadhouders forges an elusive unique language. Self-written texts in English and Dutch, but also in a self produced fantasy language are passing by. In the six-chapter "Cantata", Stadhouders and his three musicians descend fearless into great depths. 'Cantata' experienced its high-profile premiere in the Amsterdam BIMhuis. Classical tenor Sebastian Brouwer plays a mighty role as vocal hero loaded with soul wrenching vocal solos. Stadhouders on guitar and guitar-synthesizer and electronica-wizard David Hoogerheide chase the genie out of the bottle and unveil a long-lost sound alchemy that gives Brouwers' voice wings. The penetrating vocals and jaunty melodic guitar lines are electronically processed and become ingeniously intertwined. In his 'Cantata', the confines of classical, improvisation and experimental electronics flow seamlessly into one another. The musicians slowly get under the skin of the listener, and there they may gently stroke a sensitive spot to create the intimacy of a private sound ritual that agitates, enchants, and transports.

For this new ensemble, Bram created special sound structures in which the musicians can improvise. That way the content will be diferent every time, but still the main idea is very present.
An image, feeling or little melody is used as inspiration. The different background of the musicians makes an interesting combination. The music goes from

For this new ensemble, Bram created special sound structures in which the musicians can improvise. That way the content will be diferent every time, but still the main idea is very present.
An image, feeling or little melody is used as inspiration. The different background of the musicians makes an interesting combination. The music goes from complete silenced meditations to metal beats. Also the remarkable combination of instruments produce a special sound and way of playing that reminds of modern jazz, world music, orchestral music, noise improv and ambient.

Pure melancholy or introvert happiness. Vast rhythms or timeless sonic images. Imagine yourself sitting in the corner of a forgotten church, driving through the desert at night or showering under a waterfall. Create your own images and mental movies, the music will guide you.