It’s a holiday weekend here in Porto — Portugal Day. We need to learn more about its history, but for now, it means that locals are happy for a long weekend, and tourists are filling the streets, happy to be on vacation, perhaps clueless about the holiday. Or, if they’re Portuguese tourists, they’re here because of the holiday.
We ran across street musicians at many corners and plazas. Usually they were solo musicians with some kind of accompanimental backing track.
In Lisboa, from the tower of the Jeronimos monastery, we heard a guitarist sounding contemplative. It was a pop song played in a classical style, enhancing the antique mood.
Also at Jeronimos, the organ was practicing, or playing an unannounced concert. Skilled playing ornamented in an early style, pre-Bach.
In Porto, a flutist played, slightly out of tune, with recorded harp accompaniment, standing by a wall in the blazing sun.
On S. Caterina street, a musician played a musical saw. The sound echoed electronically like an Ondes Martenot. He sometimes played a tune, with great pitch accuracy, and sometimes went sliding around his range in an improv style.
Later, near the same location, a trumpet echoed, very loud when we passed front, but the resonant walls of the buildings made a grand sound.
A senior-citizen singing group, accompanied by an accordion, 2 ukeleles and a drum, sang traditional songs. The songs were unfamiliar to me but a guy standing next to me was humming along with the singers.
A saxophone played on the plaza by the Sé Cathedral. From a distance, the echoing sound seemed again electronic, but close up, the saxophone’s expressive sound came clear.
A drumming group played near the Sao Bento train station — a steady cadence, with a finale at double time.
A woman walked by us with a doublebass on her back. Where was she going to play?
Just love the musical commentary! It sounds like such a great day to have been in that city!