There’s an instrument in Calgary called TONTO, and it fills a wall.
Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre, has a collection that runs into the thousands of instruments, and TONTO is the one with the movie-hero name. Studio Bell describes it as the first and largest multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer. That’s a mouthful. The short version is a giant wall of knobs and cables that helped shape electronic music, and it lives right here in Calgary.
Down the hall, the studios hold the Helios console from the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. A piece of gear that recorded some of the biggest rock records ever made is sitting in a Calgary building. Calgary Arts Development also points to one of Elton John’s pianos and a harpsichord about 400 years old in the collection. See the instruments and studios at studiobell.ca.
Now swap loud for paper. Calgary’s Story at the Central Library, presented by Walt and Irene DeBoni, gathers documents, newspapers, images, microfilm, memorabilia and audiovisual material about this place. You ask for one thing and leave with six better questions. Start with the Calgary Public Library.
Somebody decided to keep all of it. A synthesizer, a newspaper from a Tuesday nobody remembered. Without those choices, we’d be telling a thinner version of our own story.
Pick one object this week and go meet it. One synth or one page of microfilm will do. You don’t need to be a historian, only curious enough to stand still for ten minutes.
TONTO makes a good first stop.
Sled Island Faced a $200,000 Flood Loss and Came Back pairs nicely with this one, and Calgary Once Hosted an Organ Competition With Its Own Mall Concerts is close behind. Or try Calgary Punk Has a Map and a Cassette Archive for a change of pace.
Quick answers
TONTO is a giant wall of knobs and cables at Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre in Calgary. Studio Bell describes it as the first and largest multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer. It helped shape electronic music, and it sits in a collection of thousands of instruments.
Studio Bell holds the Helios console from the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Calgary Arts Development also points to one of Elton John’s pianos and a harpsichord about 400 years old in the collection. You can see the instruments and studios through studiobell.ca.
Calgary’s Story at the Central Library, presented by Walt and Irene DeBoni, gathers documents, newspapers, images, microfilm, memorabilia and audiovisual material about Calgary. It is a good place to start digging into local history, and you can begin with the Calgary Public Library.
Sources: studiobell.ca, Calgary Arts Development and Calgary Public Library.
Related reading from us: Calgary Had a Literary Scene in the 1920s and Someone Mapped It and A Museum Where the Instruments Still Sing.
