Meet Zico van Pareen, one of the last professional organ grinders in Amsterdam.

One of the three last organ grinders in Amsterdam is 36-year-old Zico van Pareen. In the whole of the Netherlands there are only twelve professional organ grinders and the profession is slowly dying out. If it’s up to Zico, he won’t stop until he drops. “I’m out with my lady. You can’t get me happier than this!”

We meet Zico, born and raised in Amsterdam-Noord, in Almere, where he moved years ago. In a garage box he has stored his three organs that he has to prepare for the day. “I have to clean my penny box,” he says, brushing. Then he drives his organ outside and picks out the music books. “In Amsterdam especially summer hits are doing well, and I play rumba, but that’s mainly because I like it myself.”

As a Northerner, he came into contact with the barrel organ at an early age. In Noord, the organ man often went door to door and Zico was allowed to sit on the back as a 6-year-old boy. “I loved riding along for a few blocks,” he says. “Most children like barrel organs, with the bells, dolls and music. It only stuck with me.”

At the age of nineteen he bought his first barrel organ, just after he finished school. “My parents asked me what I wanted to do: study or play.” Zico chose to try it out for a year. “Now I’m 36 and I’m doing it with as much joy and enthusiasm as my first day.” He has turned his hobby into his job, he says. How much Zico earns differs per day. “Sometimes a hundred euros, sometimes more or less. It won’t make you rich, but I can pay my fixed costs.”

Less cash

The fact that the profession is dying out is not something Zico is very concerned about. He really doesn’t want to think about it either. “For every ten organ grinders who stop or die, one serious professional organ grinder will return.” There are now only twelve in the whole of the Netherlands. “What worries me more is the disappearance of cash.” Zico has a card reader, but doesn’t like to use it. “A pin machine doesn’t rattle as well as a man’s box.”

People on the street are enthusiastic today, but not everyone likes barrel organ music. Can he imagine anything? “Certainly, I don’t like bagpipe music; terrible. To each his own! Whether you like it or not, it is a piece of Dutch culture. Just like the windmills and the clogs.”