I saw them at the bottom end of Kobližná street. That’s it! It’s a rare example, seldom seen. With this my picture of Brno’s musical fauna has been brought to a satisfying close. After all what kind of city of music would it be if an organ grinder didn’t appear at least occasionally!
You can come upon music in Brno completely unexpectedly. I am leaving the radio building late one evening, on Jakubské square things are really buzzing. Of course in the summer having a beer there at a standing table is primarily a social event, surprisingly more popular than sitting in one of the nearby pubs. And from the surrounding hum all at once surprisingly a catchy little ditty emerges:
Píšťalička píská, otec mater stíská, píšťalička píská, otec mater stíská.
Aj my sa budeme, aj my sa budeme, aj my sa budeme, až sa zobereme.
Píšťalička trúbí, otec mater lúbí, píšťalička trúbí, otec mater lúbí.
Aj my sa budeme, aj my sa budeme, aj my sa budeme až sa zobereme.
I move through the people and see what is there: Three young guys with instruments - violin, viola and bass – belting out the song and people joining in. I recognise the musicians’ faces, as not long ago we did a live broadcast on the radio from the atrium concert of their local cimbalom music. The journey home after a long day is that bit merrier with such music in the soul. – Not long ago near to St. James Church a piano stood (maybe it will be back there again), on which here and there passers-by would play a tune. Occasionally there would be competition on the corner of Kobližná or Rašínová from a virtuoso marimba player.
In the course of the year there is a colourful range of productions on the street. As if it were put together by a director: A swarthy older man is seated on a combo which is playing accompaniments to a range of popular melodies, which he is interpreting with marked artistry on his clarinet. A smaller guy who looks like a character from a Scandinavian saga who has just emerged from a forest, usually produces a cascade of Bach-like tones from a penny whistle by the Minorite Church. I have seen that he can also play well on the mouth organ, mostly together with other musicians, such as a bass player. And speaking of harmonicas, sometimes on Kobližná street there is a guy who appears to be of Russian origin and who plays with gusto on a button accordion, and so well that he could be recorded live.
In the passageway beneath the railway station various bards with guitars also play. Sometimes there and sometimes on the street in the city centre. One with a hat sings mostly Czech country hits. Different, bearded with a headband in the place of a cap, sitting on a spread out camping tarpaulin and singing the campfire repertoire. Do you want to hear Dylan’s songs sung well and other folk-rock hits in English? A singer and guitarist with his own microphone and amplifier stands throughout the year in the centre: on Kobližná street or náměstí Svobody on Masaryková street where it joins Zelný trh. Of course there in the late summer stands selling young wine can be found, often accompanied by folk music (without cimbalom) taken from the Slovácko and Slovak repertoires. At one time on Kobližná or Masaryková streets there was a wonderful group playing a kind of Romani-pop-swing – I didn’t ask where they were from but I would guess that they were travelling musicians and not from Moravia.
The results of my unsystematic observations are obviously not complete, but gives some kind of picture of Brno’s ‘musical streets’ and I know that every reader could add something to it from their experience. Sometimes songbirds from distant lands fly in – for example as part of some musical or folk festival and then the whole of the centre, starting with náměstí Svobody, plays and sings. I remember how one English folk-rock group unpacked their sound system right where the square joins Česká street. Alongside a display of their CDs there was a sigh: Come to our concert tonight at Stará Pekárna. – That is how it is supposed to be done! It would be a surprise if Chick Corea were caught playing the piano by St. James Church. And then in the evening it would be off to his Jazzfest concert.
Brno is a city where musical life begins in the streets, continues in the buildings of various schools and cultural facilities and one day, we hope, will be heard in a new concert hall.
Which is just how it should be in a true City of Music.
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