Saturday night we dance

It is very likely that you have never heard of Dollon, a small town about forty kilometers from Le Mans. However, it is home to a real gem that delights visitors of all ages: the museum of mechanical music.

The modest storefront in the center of Dollon hides a veritable Ali Baba’s cave.

The entrance is through the old village bistro, which has remained in its original style from the 1930s and where you can happily sit down for a drink. But after the visit so as not to disrupt the guides' schedule.

The bistro gives access to the museum of mechanical music which brings together the surprising collection of Philippe Corbin.

As a child, he was so fascinated by one of these magical instruments that he had a real passion for them throughout his life. It was an Ariston, operated with a crank and cardboard discs that his grandmother's father had brought back from the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900.

Over the years, he has collected hundreds of instrument objects. A true jack of all trades, stonemason, electrician, radio repairman, piano tuner, he fixed them all. Like this dance organ from a bistro in Belgium completely clogged with cigarette smoke and with 500 boxes of different pieces of music.

In 1995, he opened his small museum before it was taken over by the community of communes of the Braye and Anille valleys.

The museum brings together several hundred mechanical musical instruments from 1800 to the present day, all repaired and put back into operation by Philippe Corbin. Here, there is no sanitized museum presentation but a playful, warm universe. The oldest instrument in the museum, is a serinette from 1790 playing God save the Queen!

In the large room, impressive machines bring the balls of yesteryear to life: dance organ, barrel organ, string organs, player pianos.

Perhaps the guide will let you play the bastringue with the sound so typical of the saloons of the Far West? You will not play with your hands but with your... feet which set the speed of the interpretation!

A look behind the scenes reveals the complexity of these mechanisms.

Hundreds of scores in the form of perforated cardboard are stacked at the back. By folding and unfolding, the holes transform into sounds, it’s magical!

In the next room, phonographs and all kinds of small music boxes are on display.

This visit to discover the evolution of mechanical music ends with scopitones and juke boxes. Not forgetting modern instruments, such as mechanical accordions and a Bluetooth drum kit!

A visit that lights up stars in the eyes of visitors, some of whom cannot resist performing dance steps on the floor!