Making A Living As A Blues Man In France
A wandering blues man takes us on a tour around Paris, illustrated with video, where he explores the local life and performs in some well known spots.
This romantic city of the Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge and the Notre Dame Cathedral is home to an incredibly diverse group of people battling to live and breathe in this great city.
Lets Play The Blues On The Underground
The Paris underground is the densest system in the world, and some of the statistics are impressive. For example, there are more than 300 stopping points and in the whole of Paris there is nowhere further than 400 yards from a station! The system has additionally been a long-time haven for the ‘street performer’. As I’m one those fabulous creatures, I thought I’d take a look.
How’s It Work?
One would guess that you just find a spot and start to play - well, not really! That romantic way of thinking has long long ago disappeared. The whole thing is organized now and all hopefuls need to sit an audition ( that’s right - a real audition!) arranged by the street music performance department of RATP, the guys that operate the metro.
And listen to this - every year, the best of the Paris metro performers are recorded in a professional studio and a CD is released for general sale to the public - we’re not in Kansas any more! As you might guess, the genre of the music varies a lot,ranging from tin whistle players to string sections. Some notable famous French stars have been found playing here.
Of course, you have to stick to some rules, like ‘no amps’, ‘no CD sales’, etc. I would obviously have to break a few of those, I need to admit. But as we will see, in reality nothing ever happens how you want it to …
And Now For The Big Audition - Help!
I hopped on a train, guitar case in hand (sounds like an old blues song, doesn’t it?) in the Southern part of France and a few hours later found myself sitting in a little room in the offices of the Metro, waiting for the audition to commence. I figured that I would play four of my 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.)
It seemed logical that, I reasoned, my prowess would be appraised by a hardened team of pros. This could be difficult. I tinkered with my guitar and waited, almost apprehensively. A man came in, switched on a camcorder and exclaimed “Hello - play something.” After that he sat down and appeared to read a newspaper! Unperturbed, I played a rather loud rendition of Love In Vain from the playing of Robert Johnson, at which he raised an eyebrow. After inquiring if I knew anything close to modern, to which I shook my head, he told me that the audition was at an end and I would get a letter from them in a few days. That was about it.
I took the subway to Montmartre, had lunch with my mum-in-law who lives there, and caught the train back home. Funnily enough, several days after that I got an acceptance letter and planned my first day performing in the city of Paris.
I Love Paris In The Winter, When It Glistens…
Don’t want to let you down, dear reader, but that’s what the subway was - a big let down. Well,maybe that’s not exactly true. It wasn’t what I expected, that was all. I arrived one freezing day and went into the nearest station to find a spot. That was the first mistake. There are so many musicians, so it’s important to get there very early to ensure you have a prime spot. Basically, like real estate, it’s all about location, location, location.
Having said that, I saw some great performers while I was looking around, a whole range of musical styles from jazz to opera. At one station crossover tunnel (these are often very roomy!) I came upon half a Russian orchestra, complete with a dancer. Of course, the rules espoused by the authorities didn’t mean a thing down here. About 75% of all musicians use amplification and very often sell albums. I can understand this, in my own area, sales of albums make up fifty per cent of street based income.
A Success Story - Sax Always Sells
Paradoxically, the ones making most money are the ones that don’t bother with a permit, and don’t even play in the tunnels. This is what they do. These people often play a sax, or trumpet, or an accordion (well, it is France,after all) and concentrate on the passengers actually using the trains. I accompanied one of these guys on one of his trips and we chatted a little, as we were brothers-in-arms, you could say.
He took a train for five stops, playing jazz saxophone over a backing tape. I found him to be very good at his music and he engaged people, which is a good trick to pull off in a big city. He would the repeat the journey in the other direction for 8 hours each day.
I was pleased to go back into fresh air and daylight at last, thinking that the life of an underground musician is not my cup of tea. The second part of that day was spent exploring some other parts of this interesting city, and performing a song or two in some nice places above ground.
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