The presence of barrel-organ players is registered in Chile since the middle of the Nineteenth Century. Brought mainly from Germany, some from France, these music boxes were used by poor people to get a charitable tip from passersby. Today, the barrel-organ players are an organized union, whose work responds to artistic and technical criterion and is seen by them as a dignified job, part of a cultural heritage that is still alive.

By the year 1928, Héctor Lizana was already carrying his barrel-organ through the Franklin area and the Central Market. To this man, now close to his 85 years and that dances with a youngter´s grace, we credit with the making of the "chin-chin", a drum with cymbals that the dancers called "chinchineros" use to follow the barrel-organ´s tune, with dances similar to the ones seen on the North. His son, Manuel, is currently the only maker and repairer of barrel-organs that now exists in Chile. To his workshop in the area of La Bandera arrive all the machines that need some kind of adjustment.

Thanks to the FONDART (State Funding for the Arts), four years ago Manuel could start dedicating himself to the fixing of eighteen original barrel-organs. Through the association he leads, and that gathers twentysix players, he guards for the correct sound, the good presentation, the authenticity of the instruments and the good performance of the job. Now, it is not strange to find barrel-organs that are nothing but a disguised stereo, much cheaper than a true barrel-organ with its traditional tunes stored in a sophisticated system of pipes and gears that needs proper maintenance.

As a way of certifying its authenticity, barrel-organ players have gradually formalized other elements, such as costumes, made of dark trousers and a short sleeveless jacket over a white shirt of vivid colors.

Original from the suburb of San Ramón, outside Santiago, the Lizanas make a lineage and authority on all that is barrel-organs and "chinchineros" related. They are called for parties, celebrations and shows related to popular cultural heritage. Three generations meet in the group: Héctor, who plays the chin-chin and dances, the same as his grandsons and his son, Manuel, in charge of the barrel-organ. Into this art since little boys, the young grandsons feel proud of a job that always attracted them. "With this, one knows many places, many people, has fun and also makes some money", explains the grandfather. Their daily routine is centered on the streets of Santiago´s richer neighborhoods. "There, we work on houses", says Héctor.