The Music Sensation That’s Sweeping My Imagination

I’ve been thinking a lot about how a few of my favorite street musicians in Seville could join up and form a band, or really a supergroup—not unlike the Traveling Wilburys or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. I propose we call them The Seville Street Musician Supergroup, or as converted into Español by FreeTranslation.com, El Músico Ambulante de Sevilla Super Grupo.

So, without further ado, here they are, ladies and gentlemen, El Músico Ambulante de Sevilla Super Grupo!!

On accordion: The two kids who are insistent about getting our change!
The two young dueling accordionists tend to perform together, and I think they primarily play the theme from the Godfather. They double team you and are not hesitant to mock you into giving them money. I relent about 30 percent of the time, mostly because I’m a sucker for accordion.

On upright Casiotone Keytar: The ululating Arab!
That’s him in the picture. He is my favorite and his song is very catchy. He ingeniously jury-rigged a microphone with duct tape to the top of the keyboard, which he wears like a guitar, so he can sing while he plays. However, I’m not sure he actually plays the Casiotone, but rather presses the “Bossa-Nova” button on the preprogrammed soundtrack. Still, it’s very good, and I dare you to try to get his Middle Eastern-flavored song out of your head within three hours of hearing it. I dare you.

On alto sax: The Spanish guy who only plays “Yesterday” by The Beatles!
He is accompanied by canned background music on a cassette tape. Think Kenny-G playing karaoke. He REALLY likes “Yesterday,” and he REALLY likes our street. When our windows are open, we can hear his rendition at least a dozen times during the siesta hours.

On tuba: The guy who plays tuba!
I actually have never seen him, so I’m just assuming he’s a guy, just because the demographic of Spanish street musicians seems to skew male. He’s somehow always out of sight, but always within earshot. Jenn thinks he plays “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” that 1929 Irving Berlin classic that was made popular to the MTV generation by Taco. I’m not so sure, though his song does sound a bit like that.

And there they are, El Músico Ambulante de Sevilla Super Grupo. I’d try to get more photos, but that would not come cheap since they live on tips. (The photo you see cost me €1.10.)