Buddy, Can You Spare An Euro
A traveling blues guitarist takes us on a tour around Paris, complete with video, where he explores the locality and plays in some well familiar spots.
The city of the Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge and the Notre Dame Cathedral is home to a wonderfully diverse gathering of people battling to live and breathe in this great city.
Lets Play Guitar On The Metro
The Paris metro is the densest system in the world, and some of the statistics help you to appreciate this. For example, there are over 300 stations and in the area of Paris there is nowhere more than 400 yards from a station! The conglomeration has additionally been a long-time haven for the 'street performer'. As I'm one those fabulous people, I thought I'd check it out.
How's It Work?
You may be thinking that you just find a spot and start to play - oh nothing so simple! That romantic way of thinking has long long ago disappeared. The whole thing is regulated nowadays and all candidates need to sit an audition (yes - a real audition!) with the street music performance department of RATP, the guys that operate the metro.
And hear this - every year, the best of the Paris metro musicians are recorded in a professional studio and an album is released for general sale to the public - things have changed a lot! As you might think, the genre of the music varies a lot,going from tin whistle players to string sections. Some notable celebrated French stars have been found down here.
Of course, there are rules, such as 'no amps', 'no CD sales', and a few other things. I couldn't wait to ignore some of those, I'm afraid to tell you. But as we will see, in reality nothing ever happens how you want it to ...
Time For The Big Audition - Gulp!
I caught a train, guitar case in hand (sounds similar to an old blues song, wouldn't you say?) in the Southern part of France and a few hours later found myself perched on a stool in a tiny room in the Metro offices, waiting for the test to commence. I'd decided that I would play 4 of my very best and sing like a bird - 'need this license, need this license' was my unspoken prayer. It represented the door to untold wealth beyond my wildest dreams (and they could get quite wild.)
Obviously, I thought, my talents would be appraised by a very experienced team of pros. This could be tricky. I tuned my instrument and waited, almost nervously. A man entered, turned on a camcorder and said "Hello - let's hear it then." After that he sat down and appeared to read a newspaper! Unphased, I played a rather loud rendition of Love In Vain by Robert Johnson, at which he raised an eyebrow. After inquiring if I played anything close to modern, to which I shook my head, he told me that the audition was finished and I would receive a letter from them soon. That was about it.
I caught the subway to Montmartre, had lunch with my mum-in-law who lives there, and caught the train back down south. Funnily enough, several days later I got an acceptance letter and planned my first day performing in the French capital.
I Love Paris In The Springtime, When It Glistens...
Sorry to let you down, dear reader, but I found that the subway was - a big let down. Well, that's not quite true. It wasn't what I expected, that was all. I arrived on a freezing day and dived into the nearest station to secure a place to play. That was the first mistake. There are a lot of musicians, so it's necessary to turn up ridiculously early to make sure you get a prime location. You could say, like real estate, it's all about location, location, location.
Mind you, I saw some excellent acts while I was searching, a complete range of musical activity from classical to African drums. In one station crossover access link (these are often quite large!) I happened upon half a Russian orchestra, complete with a dancer. It was suddenly obvious, the rules espoused by the authorities meant nothing underground. Maybe 75 per cent of all musicians use amps and very often sell albums. I can understand this, in my city, sales of albums make up half of my income from street playing.
A Success Story - Sax Will Always Sell
Strangely enough, the musicians who make the most money are the ones that don't have a permit, and don't even play in the tunnels. This is what they do. These musicians often play a sax, or some kind of horn, or an accordion (well, it is France,after all) and entertain the passengers actually using the trains. I accompanied one man on one of his journeys and we talked a while, as we were soul brothers, you might say.
He would take a train for five stops, blowing jazz sax over a backing tape. I found him to be really good at what he did and he engaged people, which is no small feat in any city. He would the repeat the journey in the other direction for eight hours a day.
It was nice to emerge into fresh air and open air again, thinking that the life of a musical troglodyte is not my cup of tea. The remainder of the day was spent exploring some other corners of this nice city, and performing a song or two in some nice places above ground.
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