Galanti Electro Music was an

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

manufacturer from 1917 until the late 1970s.

History

Antonio Galanti started the Galanti accordion factory with his three sons Domenico, Egidio and Robusto in the small village of

Mondaino Mondaino ( rgn, Mundaìn) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Rimini in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southeast of Bologna and approximately southeast of Rimini. Mondaino borders the following municipalities: Mo ...

Italy. Galanti earned his living by traveling throughout Italy showcasing his

Merry-Go-Round A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

, while continuing to develop the first Galanti accordion in 1890. The first Galanti accordions saw production in 1917. It was not until 1920 when a significant number of

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

had immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

that the Galanti brothers Domenico and Robusto saw an opportunity to grow and expand the company and started exporting the Galanti brand to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Ahlborn Galanti started making

classical organ Classical may refer to: European antiquity *Classical antiquity, a period of history from roughly the 7th or 8th century B.C.E. to the 5th century C.E. centered on the Mediterranean Sea *Classical architecture, architecture derived from Greek and ...

s during the late 1970s and subsequently founded

General Music Generalmusic was an Italian musical instrument manufacturing company focusing on digital and acoustic pianos, synthesizers and music workstations. The company produced three lines: a musical instrument series called GEM, a various studio equi ...

or GEM. Similarly Marcello Galanti founded Intercontinental Electronics, later known as

Viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

International to design and manufacture

electronic organ An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since developed ...

s after leaving his brothers in 1969.

Acclaim

Galanti produced a successful line of accordions, with its Super Dominator model leading the way in overall quality. An advertisement for the Super Dominator read, "This sensitive musical instrument will outperform any other comparable accordion. It is the supreme achievement of the Galanti artisans... the culmination of a half-century of musical craftsmanship." Chris Saccheri of www.letspolka.com writes, "This was an excellent accordion and one of the world's best during its time." Galanti guitars were also recognized for their craftsmenship and used widely by professionals at the time in Italy.

The Rock Era

In the 1950s,

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

emerged as the dominant force in music, and the accordion's popularity saw a dramatic decline. Like many instrument makers, Galanti responded to this cultural change by adding

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

s and keyboards to its product line.

Notes

{{reflist Guitar manufacturing companies of the United States