Cembalet Records

Partially because I recently discovered that Richard Manuel used Cembalet in the Band and partially because my blog stats tell me that searches for "Cembalet N" have led people here (apparently because I mentioned the Cembalet in my post about Manfred Mann's use of the Pianet), I've been doing more research into the Cembalet lately.

A couple weeks ago, I finally got to listen to some of the Cembalet EPs.  Of the four pictured on Ulrike Muehlbachler's website, three are credited to the Mag'net Quartet (the other is Hohner's demonstration record).  These are available on YouTube (along with two others) but apparently only in specific regions (I had to use a VPN to trick YouTube into thinking I was in France in order to listen to them; otherwise, all I see is "This channel doesn't have any content" or "This video is not available").

The EPs are also available on Amazon but - again - only in specific regions.  The dates there indicate that they were all released in 1962.  Based on the catalogue numbers (which are sequential) they were released in this order (I'm also including the track listings):

1. Cembalet Party, Vol. 1 [HF 1015]
1. "Saint Louis Blues"
2. "Dinah"
3. "Nuages"
4. "Stomping at the Savoy"
2. Cembalet Party, Vol. 2 [HF 1016]
1. "Singing in the Rain"
2. "Un américain à Paris"
3. "Undecided"
4. "The Man I Love"
3. Boom sur le Cembalet! [HF 1017]
1. "Viens danser le twist"
2. "Comme une balançoire"
3. "Cruauté mentale"
4. "Fernando"
4. Chansons immortelles de Marguerite Monnot [HF 1018]
1. "Mon légionnaire"
2. "Je n'en connais pas la fin"
3. "La goualante du pauvre Jean"
4. "C'est à Hambourg"
5. "Irma la douce"
6. "Milord"
5. Cembalet variétés [HF 1019]
1. "Le petit chat sur le clavier"
2. "Mariage de poupée"
3. "A tous les amoureux du monde (From 'Le troisième homme')"
4. "L'île heureuse"

Excepting Chansons immortelles de Marguerite Monnot, these are also listed in at least some of the Cembalet user manuals.  "Einige Schallplatten aus dem Hohner-Repertoire zeigen deutlich, was man mit dem Cembalet machen kann" - "A few records from the Hohner repertoire demonstrate clearly what one can do with the Cembalet."

I found it interesting that Chansons immortelles de Marguerite Monnot often features Cembalet as the accompaniment for accordion, which isn't too dissimilar from the Pianet's rôle as accompaniment for melodica in one example on the Hohner Pianet demonstration record.  All of these instruments use reeds, so while they're intoned in different ways, there's something of a similarity in sound.