There was a girl in the band Arcade Fire playing this wooden instrument with a crank at one end. She was also fingering it with her left hand, but it must have been with buttons, becasue no keys were visible. . From the way the crank moved, it seemed to be attached to a gear.
Your description doesn’t make it entirely clear, but was it a hurdy-gurdy?
On preview: I guess I’m not too quick on the draw tonight.
A hurdy-gurdy is what it was, although it didn’t look like the one in that picture. It looked more like this one. Thank you.
About half way down This page There is a hurdy gurdy section. It has articles on how to make one, sound samples, etc.
Glad to know one is being played by a working musician. The instrument got a bad rap at one point, and has never recovered.
Franz Schubert’s Die Winterreise song cycle mentions a Hurdy Gurdy player. This is a very strange, evocative and haunting song. There are more details Here
