This little guy was enjoying a musical moment while his parents were nowhere in sight. Right after the Peruvians finished their song, the kid freaked out when he realized he had been abandoned.
Ever since I can remember these Peruvians have been performing on the streets of Japan. They are virtually everywhere and playing the same song. I’ve seen them in different parts of the city on the same day which leads me to suspect that it’s a franchise. What are these guys called? Anyone know? And do they have day jobs or is this a full time gig? I should ask them next time.
Roy, you should know that during the summer they’re all over Toronto as well.
My theory is that these musicians are given rudimentary pan flute lessons by the hangar-full in Lima and then dispersed to all corners of the world to hypnotize us into submission with that same song…
It certainly worked on me; I visited Machu Picchu in the summer of 2005:
http://www.andrewcurrie.ca/ee/index.php/weblog/C22/
Holy Cow! Really!??
Yep, you can add Osaka to the list of locations too
Yeah they were all over Korea to when I lived there. I wonder if they’re really Peruvian. I mean, would you know if they were El Salvadoran musicians? It all sounds like a marketing scam to me.
I saw them all over Germany, my whole life. Even in my childhood – they played virtually every city I’ve ever been to, always the same song. And I took a photo of them in Osaka, too, because I couldn’t believe my eyes.
They were in Arles, France, this past summer but they were all dressed up in North-American Indian costumes complete with eagle headdresses. Go figure. They seemed kind of embarrassed about it. There was an interesting noise a flute player made but after watching him I could see that the flute player was lip sinking to that noise which was actually arising from the accompanying amplified “sound track.”
I saw them at Funabashi once, beautiful music, though I think they were using a soundtrack.
It would have been better for me to say, “…lip (or, actually, flute) synching to a soundtrack…”. Easy to see why my proofreading job lasted but a few months…
Personally I figure the guys come in on tourist visas and pump it for all it’s worth and leave, then come back. However, some may be married to native residents. Who knows?
I bought a cassette tape of some Peruvian street musician’s “music” many years ago in Tokyo. I put the word “music” in quotes because the sound quality was so bad one couldn’t be sure it was not really recorded in a toilet on a cotton bale laden freight train that was derailing in a tunnel, caroming off the echoing tunnel walls accompanied by twisting, shrieking metal muffled by the now burning cotton. “I’d rather be a thud, crash, shriek, deadened whump than a aieee!” Even as such it sounded like I was listening to it a half a mile around the bend.
Once bitten…
I believe it is “huayno” music. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huayno
A lot of Peruvians who are descendents of Japanese were allowed to legally live and work in Japan for an extended period of time in the 90s. I don’t know if they are still allowed in but I don’t believe they are coming on toruist visas. Many of them may be residents by now and their family members can legally come over and reside with them (or they used to be able to).
My former boss’s roommate is from Peru and is an “unskilled” worker and has been here for well over a decade working in a restaurant. His family lives in Chiba and also does unskilled work (I believe they work in a factory). They are all here legally.
My guess is that these people do this for spare cash or as a means of spreading their culture in Japan. I don’t think it’s a scam at all.
How can we account for the fact that they all dress alike and play the same song and sell what looks like the same CDs?
It must be some sort of pyramid scheme like Amway where they sell people a “kit” to get started.
You can add the Netherlands as a location where you see these musicians regularly in most cities.
You can see them in various districts of Athens, Greece too. Especially on Saturdays.
Well I never seen any “group” here in California or Tijuana, but for your comments they appears anywhere (just like Yakult), so maybe one of this days I can be on a live concert.
They usually sell cds with their music after the gig.Has anyone bought it?Is it any good?
It might be the perfect soundtrack for a good sleep…
I haven’t seen them in Singapore yet.
nor malaysia …
They’re here in Guam too!
They’re in Switzerland too ! They must be preparing something, infiltrating every city in the world ! :-o