One of my favorite parts about traveling to new cities is checking out their busking (aka street performing) scene. I've witnessed some great street performance in my day, from the stilt dancers in Venice to the bucket drummers at Comiskey to the silver pinted stutue peole in Guanajuato (how can they possibly stand so still?) And of course, there's the South Amercan indigenous band that has graced every corner of God's green earth with a rendition of El Condor Pasa. (Come on, be honest, how many of you have purchased the CD?) But I think that I may have today witnessed my favorite street performance of all time. On a square in Budapest sat a man playing glasses, filled with water to varying levels (thus different tones), marimba style. The nerd teacher in me couldn't help but think about the possibilties for science lessons, while the musician in me was impressed with how, when one of the glasses became out of tune, the busker was able to add the correct amount of water, with a syringe, to tune his instrument right up.
I've often thought about what I would choose to do if the time came when busking was a necessity. The obvious option would be flute playing, but I think I would want to do something more unusual and attention-grabbing. Caricatures comprised only of doodles? Flamenco dancing in scuba flippers? A human juke box? When the time comes, I'll tell you in which underpass I can be found.
Stay tuned: When No Means Yes
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