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| BARCELONA |
As I make my way to school early in the morning, I am up lifted by the beautiful notes that echo throughout the train station. As I make my way to the exit, I am face to face to Edwardo, who is in his mid 40's and is an immigrant from Colombia. As people rush to work, he is sitting on a broken stool, playing his guitar and sing sweet words into the microphone. This makes me late everyday to my psychology class. As I travel around Europe, I am mesmerized on how there are street musicians on every corner. Different genres. Different emotions. Different people. But they are all here for one thing- A dream.
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| MADRID |
When I went to Madrid, I bumped into a "Marachi band" They were from Mexico and had moved to Madrid about 8 months ago. They moved to Madrid in search of job opportunities. But unfortunately, they haven't found a job yet, so they had to turn to what they love- music. They filled the beautiful Saturday after noon with music from their home. With emotions pouring out of their beautiful voices which created harmonies, I was able to feel the passion, anxiety and hardships that they face everyday.
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| IRELAND |
When I made my way to Ireland, I was impacted by the beautiful colored doors- which is a main attraction in Ireland. I finally made my way to "temple bar" and it was a different world. It was a world full of bars and live music- Live music meaning street musicians. As I walked up and down the streets, I was automatically stopped by beautiful sounds. I stood and listened. I made my way closer to them and observed their playing. When they finally took a break, we sparked a conversation. We spoke about the blues, jazz and of course the typical Irish music. The two performers were from Switzerland and came to Ireland. They were in search of making their dream become reality. They were traveling around Europe to build recognition. Moments later, I found my self singing the sweet blues of Billie Holiday. We were all from different parts in the world but we had music in common
As I continue traveling, I have made a promise to approach street performers and actually sing with them while I am here. Every time, I do so, I feel their emotions. Its the most beautiful feeling because you put yourself in their shoes. I will never forget the time when I was on my way home. It was raining so much and my umbrella was breaking apart, so I decided to run home. As I am running, I start hearing a symphony of a violin, rain drops and thunder. As I followed the sounds, there is a young guy by the name of Sammuel, playing the violin in the rain. He was drenched , had his eyes closed and just played his violin. I was impacted because what I was experiencing was pure passion. It wasn't about collecting money. It was about joining nature and his sounds. When he finally finished, we spoke. He was inspired by nature and the rain was one of the purest instruments . He also told me that he goes out to play every time it rains. He also explained to me that music is everywhere. We spend our lives running from one place to another and we forget to listen to the music around us.
Street musicians and independent artists are greatly supported in Europe. I realized that it is very easy for hard working independent artists to get a segment on the radio. Back home in the States, its so hard because its all about who you know and etc. However, after speaking with the Director of the Marketing Department in Catalunya Radio, I realized that many radio stations reach out to these hard working, talented individuals. I am impressed because music is engraved in the culture and they feel the need to spread the talent around.Street musicians have a dream, purpose and hope. They do not just play instruments, sing or rap just because! There is a story behind each person. So next time you bump into a street musician. Take a second and listen. Allow yourself to receive the emotions they are transmitting. If a painting is what emotions look like, then music is what emotions sound like.
Enjoy the video below...clips from Ireland, Madrid an Barcelona
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