and requested a demonstration of the instrument by Perrey, who at the time was traveling to promote the new device. Trenet was so impressed that he hired Perrey for the recording session for the song "L'Âme des poètes" ("The Soul of Poets"). At a second session, Perrey played Ondioline on three more Trenet songs; the guitarist on two of those later tracks was Django Reinhardt. "L'Âme des poètes" became an international commercial success, and Perrey was asked to accompany Trenet on stage. "My collaboration with [Trenet] lasted a year," said Perrey, "during which I was able to meet other great artists and singers such as Yves Montand and Jacques Brel. I made my debut on radio and French television, not only as an accompanist of great singing stars, but also performing my own musical act." Perrey began to travel extensively, first in France and then abroad to attend international music fairs. Eventually he developed a cabaret act, "Around the World in 80 Ways", which was a showcase for the Ondioline's versatility. Perrey explained: Thanks to the Ondioline, I could imitate instruments from around the world, such as bagpipes from Scotland, American banjo, Gypsy violin, soprano voice, Indian sitar, and so on. I made a world tour in music and finished it with a gag of whistling a tune. At the end, the whistling was still going on (thanks to the Ondioline), but I was drinking a glass of water. We all laughed. Perrey's first commercially released recording under his own name was Prelude au Sommeil (Prelude to Sleep), issued in 1958, which was described by the artist as an "auditory recipe" to induce sleep in insomniacs. "I had the good fortune of meeting scientists who were interested in the possibilities of using electronic sound for psycho-medical purposes," Perrey later recalled. "Together we had the idea of creating sound complexes to induce calm in disturbed, agitated people. We created a team of researchers: acousticians, medical doctors, physicists, psychiatrists, a total of nine in all. I was the catalyzer, the musician. We spent many hours making experiments to determine which sounds would induce a state of serenity and calm." In 1959 Perrey performed on a 10" LP entitled Cadmus, Le Robot de l'Espace, a children's record issued on the Philips label; Perrey played Ondioline and provided sound effects. That same year, composer Paul Durand hired Perrey to provide Ondioline accompaniment for the