making a visit to the Italian American Museum <\/a>for a special historic presentation on what was once an instrument ubiquitous on Big Apple streets.<\/p>\nA 127-year-old barrel piano, here with owner Tony Gangi, is making a single-day visit to the Big Apple Friday. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a great homecoming not just for a musical instrument, but for the history of an entire ethnic group,\u201d said Tony Gangi, the piano\u2019s current owner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am delighted to no end that it will be reunited with the city of its birth for a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The piano\u2019s visit marks the first time it has been in the Big Apple since 1899 \u2014 when it was manufactured on Chambers Street by Caesar Maserati, one of the most prolific builders of barrel pianos and organs of the time.<\/p>\n
Legendary street performer Marino Persechini owned the instrument for his seven-decade career \u2014 and was well-known for toting it throughout Boston and sharing his music throughout the city streets until his retirement in 1974.<\/p>\n
The instrument once belonged to legendary organ grinder Marino Persechini. Italian American Museum<\/p>\n
Persechini played the instrument for seven decades in the streets of Boston. Italian American Museum<\/p>\n
Organ-grinders \u2014 also known as hurdy-gurdy men \u2014 like Persechini were mostly Italian immigrants who moved to the US in hopes of achieving the American Dream, and the instruments soon became synonymous with the Italian-American identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese instruments provided a way for them to make money where they didn\u2019t have to answer to a discriminatory employer and they could kind of make it on their own. And unfortunately, a real stereotype developed: the stereotype of the Italian-American immigrant,\u201d Gangi explained to The Post.<\/p>\n
LaGuardia was once reportedly taunted by a man during his teenage years in Arizona, calling the future politician an ethnic slur and asking: \u201cWhere\u2019s your monkey?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor LaGuardia effectively banned the instruments from the Big Apple during his tenure. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post<\/p>\n
He later, in 1935, refused to renew licenses for street organ grinders and barrel piano players in the Big Apple, citing panhandling and traffic obstruction, a move that effectively banned the culture from the city. <\/p>\n
The ban was in effect until it was lifted by Mayor John V. Lindsay in 1970, but the effects were irreversible to a once-thriving industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a lot of ways, the ban did a lot of damage because nobody is making instruments like this in the United States, unfortunately,\u201d Gangi said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a great homecoming not just for a musical instrument, but for the history of an entire ethnic group,\u201d said Gangi. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post<\/p>\n
Even the surviving instruments are in bad shape, and even antique dealers aren\u2019t well-versed in the history of barrel pianos.<\/p>\n
Gangi and his wife, Suzanne, will tell the story of the Persechini, the piano and LaGuardia as part of the special presentation at the museum at 6 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n
For just one day, its music will fill the halls of the Italian American Museum<\/a> \u2014 and visitors are encouraged to play the keys once operated by the legendary musician.<\/p>\n\u201cWe are grateful to be hosting the Gangis and this magnificent instrument,\u201d said Dr. Joseph V. Scelsa, founder and president of the Italian American Museum. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an element of our culture that epitomizes the struggles of Italian American immigrants, but also their desire to share many aspects of that culture in their new homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a homecoming 100 years in the making. The folky tunes of an extremely rare piano will once…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[26689,7064,881,4858,75,57,2576,9,24,55,197,54,56,58],"class_list":["post-380186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bans","tag-boston","tag-history","tag-italy","tag-manhattan","tag-metro","tag-museums","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-life","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}