During our walk about the Earth, we've encountered a fair number of street musicians. And since we've always got an audio recorder on us... we recorded some of them. This week, it's a musical interlude on our show. Enjoy the sounds of a few street musicians we've met all across Europe!
EVO: We're in Costa Brava, a beautiful beachside area just outside of Barcelona, Spain. We've been attending the TBEX Europe conference all week, and have been recording lots of audio to bring to you on future shows. Seriously. We've got some great stuff here.
SHE: This week, we bring you a special musical edition, featuring a range of street musicians we've recorded during our travels. These are the actual recordings of the musicians on the street, not ripped from their CDs.
EVO: The idea first came to me in Brussels, where I recorded this sax player on the street as Sheila was popping in and out of stores. Yes, he knew we were recording. And I tipped him, too. In fact, we make sure to tip all the performers, and make sure they know that we're recording. No international incidents, especially over copyright.
[Brussels sax]
EVO: We found this accordion player outside the Sheffield, England train station. He's featured in one of Sheila's One Minute Memories videos, but the audio quality is a little better here. I'm pretty sure he's singing in Italian, but I assure you... we were in England when I recorded him.
[Sheffield accordion]
SHE: Santiago de Compostela in Spain is the hotspot for street musicians. There's a large university here, and it gets plenty of foot traffic from tourists thanks to the locals. So while a harp and upright bass probably aren't all that typical in your town, they're not all that out of place here.
[Santiago harp & bass]
EVO: And where there are students, there's always someone trying out something new. Like the hand drum that looks like a ufo. Hang, HAPI, hand pan... it goes by many different names. I like the sound, but I'm afraid that it will all to quickly become as overdone Peruvian pan flutes. Anyhow this kid drew a pretty big crowd as his flitted across the surface of his drum.
[Santiago hang]
SHE: And if that wasn't hippy enough for you, how about a Lute? At least we think it was a lute. Could have been a Mandolin. If your recognize and know the name of the instrument, let us know. Whatever it's called, it makes a lovely and quite worldly sound.
[Lute]
EVO: You may be wondering why we haven't included any Spanish music. Well... we're in Galicia. Yes, it's part of Spain, but it was a Celtic "nation" long before that. Broaden your musical horizons, my friends. And don't call what you're about to hear bagpipes.
[Galician gaita]
SHE: That's a galician gaita, which I'm probably not pronouncing correctly. It's a very traditional instrument, and you can hear the sound drifting in and out of the streets and passage ways all day in Santiago.
EVO: So far, that's the extent of the instrumental music we've collected. We've got a fair amount of singer/songwriters stuff from the various pubs we find ourselves in. If you liked this musical interlude, let me know. And if you want any parts of it, let me know. I've already sent one off to Marc from the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast, just because he asked nicely. Cheers from Costa Brava!
SHE: We travel the world as The Opportunistic Travelers largely because of our generous listeners.
EVO: People all over the world pledge as little as five bucks a month, and in return, they get a hand-written postcard from us sent from wherever opportunity has taken us, every single month. Sign up today at TheOpportunisticTravelers.com/postcards.
SHE: We also stay for free most of our journey. No, we’re not super-stars or anything. We eliminate hotel costs and stay in some great cities by housesitting all over the world. Get our complete list of the actual housesitting sites we use every day at TheOpportunisticTravelers.com/stayforfree, and stop spending money on hotels when you travel, too. Thanks for listening to this episode. I’m Sheila Dee.
EVO: And I am Evo Terra. Our theme music is "On the Ground" by Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com. All other sounds, voices, and odd bits you hear were created by us. And this podcast is just the start of the audio, video, images, and written content we’re producing as we travel the world. Got an idea on how we could work together or a place you like for us to visit? Visit TheOpportunisticTravelers.com to get in touch. Now would be good.
New episodes of the The Opportunistic Travelers Podcast are available every Tuesday. Of course, Tuesday can be a very different thing depending on where we are in the world. Cheers!
