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lifestyle WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 ‘Angels’ organ’ makes heavenly comeback nly a handful of professional musi- allegedly made its players go crazy. “At first cians can play it, but a rare instru- they thought it was due to its rich harmon- Oment banned in the 19th century is ics. But the real problem was the lead,” said making a comeback, and even seducing a Bloch. In the 18th century armonicas were new generation of rock and electro stars. made of crystal, composed of 24 percent The glass armonica, invented by US found- lead. And the black paint applied to some ing father Benjamin Franklin in the 18th of the bowls-resembling the black keys on century, was blamed for driving musicians a piano keyboard-were also full of the toxic crazy, and is not taught in any of the metal. world’s top conservatories. “There are five “Touching these instruments every day or six of us who play it, for our own pleas- for 15 or 20 years could be a real problem, ure. It’s a very small community,” said specifically with lead poisoning,” he said. In Frenchman Thomas Bloch, one of the exclu- 1835, German police finally decided to ban sive musical club. the glass armonica, which was gradually But now Bloch has been invited by the forgotten about. Until, that is, a German- Los Angeles Opera to play the instrument- born master glass blower living near which he jokingly says looks like a rotating Boston, Gerhard Finkenbeiner, decided to glass kebab-in the Donizetti opera “Lucia di start making them again in 1982. His work- Lammermoor,” which runs until April 6. The shop remains the only manufacturer of the spelling, without an “h,” was ordained by instrument, which costs some 15,000 euros Franklin himself, even if some have (about $20,650). tweaked it to harmonica. It is based on the Italian word “armonia,” meaning harmony, A guillotine is pictured in its auction room in Nantes, western France. — AFP photos evoking the instrument’s harmonic rich- ness. It is in fact a sophisticated version of an “instrument” that everyone knows: a glass filled with water, which produces a high-pitched ringing sound when a mois- tened finger is drawn around its lip. guillotine Franklin got the idea after seeing musi- ‘Working’ cians in London “playing” rows of glasses, filled with water to varying levels to make different notes-but wanted a more easily up for auction in France transportable version. “So he asked a glass blower to create 37 bowls of different sizes, 19th century guillotine in perfect display in a chateau or in a public collec- tuned chromatically over three octaves,” working order goes up for auction tion,” he said. Duflos said the guillotine Bloch told AFP. The bowls are fitted inside Ain France on Thursday and is was used by the army but he did not each other without touching and fixed on a expected to fetch up to 60,000 euros elaborate. The guillotine has been in pri- rotating horizontal axle, the speed of which ($82,000), the auctioneers said. The wood, vate hands for over a century and the cur- can be controlled by a pedal. The player iron, steel and brass guillotine, synony- rent owner had it passed down to him makes music by sliding fingers across them, mous with the 1789 French Revolution, from his grandfather, who apparently moistened with a mix of water and chalk. was used to behead people in the second bought it in the early 20th century. The The whole thing looks a bit like a mix- half of the 19th century. It will be auc- blade of the guillotine bears the inscrip- ture of “a sewing machine and a translu- tioned on Thursday in the northern city of tion “Armees de la Republique,” a revolu- cent kebab,” the Gallic musician quipped. Its resurrection was accompanied by a Nantes and auctioneer Francois-Xavier tionary force created to defend France The instrument was a hit as soon as it was revival of music for it-some 400 pieces Duflos said it was expected to fetch from its neighbors after the 1789 French created. France’s Queen Marie-Antoinette exist, including notably “Lucia di between 50,000 and 60,000 euros. Revolution. — AFP herself played it. “There are believed to Lammermoor,” in which the armonica had have been about 4,000 armonicas built been replaced by flutes. It was Bloch who “It is rare for this type of object to go between 1761 and 1835. It was played in oversaw the “re-creation” of the opera in its to auction, so it is rather difficult to set a salons above all,” said Bloch. Mozart discov- original version in the 1980s. But the price, but we have taken into account its ered the instrument from the famous doc- instrument’s sounds have also drawn a rarity,” he said. “It would be nice if it tor Franz Anton Mesmer who used it to new generation of musicians, including remained in a historic setting, either on relax his patients-and liked it so much he Icelandic songstress Bjork and avant-garde used it for his final chamber music work. composer John Cage. It was also used in Beethoven, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the 1975 hit film “One Flew Over the Saint-Saens, and later on Richard Strauss, Cuckoo’s Nest”. “Clearly if it was taught for- also composed music for the glass armoni- mally it would allow the instrument to be ‘Divergent’ debuts as US box office champ ca, which was nicknamed “the angels’ more widely known,” said Bloch. But the organ” by Paganini. musician has already been spreading the word, having worked with Radiohead and Instrument revived in 1982 Tom Waits, as well as electro stars Gorillaz een adventure “Divergent” emerged weekend in theaters, the religiously But the instrument’s success was not and Daft Punk.— AFP as the North American box office themed “God’s Not Dead,” which tells the without controversy. Critics said its ethereal champion at the weekend, leaving story of a college freshman who debates T sound provoked premature births, made also just-released “Muppets Most Wanted” with his atheist philosophy professor, animals roar and felled “the strongest man trailing in a distant second place, industry debuted in fourth place with $9.2 million. in less than an hour,” according to an 1804 figures showed Monday. Taking an estimat- Ancient Greece fantasy-action movie medical dictionary. And above all, it ed $54.6 million, “Divergent,” the dystopian “300: Rise of an Empire,” the gory follow-up tale of a young woman in a futuristic socie- to the 2007 hit “300,” landed in fifth with ty, is based on the popular young adult $8.5 million. And fast-paced, car-chase novel of the same name. There had been action movie “Need for Speed,” inspired by rumors that the movie, targeting the same the videogame of the same name, earned teen audience as the blockbuster “Hunger $7.9 million, falling from third to sixth. Wes Games” and “Twilight” franchises, might dis- Anderson’s quirky “The Grand Budapest appoint at the box office. Hotel” climbed one spot to seventh with But its director Neil Burger and star just under $6.8 million. And eighth place actress Shailene Woodley will be relieved went to “Non-Stop,” the Liam Neeson action with a relatively strong debut return on the movie set on a long-haul flight. The film movie’s estimated $85 million budget. added another $6.4 million to its total earn- “Divergent,” a sequel to which is already in ings. the works, easily beat “Muppets Most Falling to ninth was hit animated film Wanted,” which earned $17 million in its “The Lego Movie,” inspired by the children’s first weekend. The box office debut for toy building blocks, which took in $4.1 mil- Kermit and Co’s latest outing compared to lion. And rounding out the top 10 with $3.1 $29 million earned by 2011’s “The Muppets” million was “The Single Moms Club,” the lat- on its first weekend. Tina Fey, Ty Burrell and est offering from prolific actor-director Ricky Gervais star in a European adventure Tyler Perry, about five struggling mothers in which a Russian-accented Kermit look- who set aside their differences to bond in a alike takes the Muppet gang for a ride. support group. — AFP Coming in third was animated film “Mr Peabody & Sherman,” based on characters from the 1960s television cartoon “Rocky and Bullwinkle.” Slipping from last week’s This photo released by Summit Entertainment, LLC shows first-place spot, the film earned $11.8 mil- Maggie Q, left, as Tori and Shailene Woodley as Beatrice lion in its third weekend, figures from ‘Tris’ Prior, in the film, ‘Divergent.’ — AP Exhibitor Relations showed. In its first ‘Scarface’ remake: Universal hiring Chilean director Pablo Larrain hilean filmmaker Pablo LarraÌn (“No”) is Even then, a dozen states refused to show it in negotiations to direct the new theatrically. C“Scarface” movie for Universal Pictures and Marc Shmuger’s Global Produce, TheWrap ‘More mythic’ has learned. “Scarface” will reimagine the core “Scarface” was then remade in 1983 by immigrant story told in both the 1932 and director Brian De Palma and writer Oliver 1983 films. Universal’s update will be an origi- Stone, who updated the story to follow a nal story set in modern day Los Angeles that Cuban immigrant’s (Al Pacino) epic rise to follows a Mexican immigrant’s rise in the crim- power in Miami. The new “Scarface” will be a inal underworld as he strives for the American more mythic origin story that explores where Dream.