Street Performers

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Throughout Paris, but especially in touristy areas, street performers are a common sight. Many are musicians, and I randomly selected one group of musicians to illustrate the concept here.

These musicians were playing on the place du Pont Neuf, the little plaza on the Île de la Cité that separates the two spans of the Pont Neuf. Like most such street musicians, they have an open case or box or basket in front of them into which people can drop money; and like many musicians today, they even sell CDs of their music on the spot, for 15 euros (which seems to be a going price for such CDs).

The talent of street musicians runs the full gamut, from so bad that you feel inclined to pay them just to get them to stop, to so good that you wonder why they are content to play on the street. This particular group was pretty good, and they appeared to be American, which is not unusual. (Many Americans think that they can come to Paris and support themselves just by playing music on the street; most eventually starve and have to be sent home by the embassy, but the illusion lasts for a while, and a very small minority actually succeed for an indefinite period, if they are good.)

Photographed on April 22, 2001.