Try It Out Loud – SpeakEasy Spoken Word Open Mic

THEY SOLD MORE THAN 200 PIANOS PER MONTH!
My next performance is taking place at a very peculiar place – the GC Pianofabriek in Sint-Gillis, #Brussels. Here, years ago, my poetry journey started – thanks to Philip Meersman, the big heart who invited me to Poetryfest.Brussels.

100 years earlier, the venue was a piano factory, built by order of the German family Gunther, piano builders who settled in Brussels in 1845. They were among the first to produce high-quality pianos with a metal frame and later, by cross-mounting the ’cordes croisées’ of the strings, they obtained a specific sound that made them win various prizes. Between the two world wars, all Belgian music schools had Gunthers at their disposal.
After the Second World War the factory was bought by the family Vanderelst. The company was one of the largest piano builders and repairers in Europe. In the peak years, they employed more than 100 people and sold more than 100 pianos per month. The business was abandoned in 1977 when a second-hand Gunther got more expensive than a new Japanese piano.