laterna

Any visitor to Ermou, the main shopping street in Athens, has likely seen Spyros Tarapossos and his laterna, or barrel piano. The laterna is an automatic piano operated by turning a crank on the side of the instrument. It is...

Desperate for revenues while making deep cuts to try to recover from a crushing economic crisis, the Greek government, wants to collect taxes from players of barrel pianos, known as laternas, who walk the streets with their instruments and...