André Pierre Charial, known as Pierre Charial, is a French barrel organ musician and maître d’art born on August 17, 1943, in Lyon. He studied piano, bassoon, and composition at the Conservatoire de Lyon, earning a first prize in solfège. Between 1968 and 1976, Charial managed socio-cultural centers before establishing an atelier in Paris to modernize the barrel organ repertoire. In 1983, he founded the association Musique Mécanique Paris. Charial collaborated with composers including Marius Constant, Iannis Xenakis, and György Ligeti, creating perforated cards to adapt contemporary works for mechanical instruments. His discography includes the albums Hors Gabarit (1985), Paris Mécanique (2004), and Swing de Barbarie (2011). The French Ministry of Culture named him a Maître d’art. In 2024, he began a collaboration with jazz drummer Mathieu Bec.
