Music on the Streets of Cardiff

Ok, not just the streets.

In fact, this might be more accurately described as music in the nooks and crannies of Cardiff. It's the music of the side locations, the three knocks and a wink places, and the conjunctions of serendipity: the city's internal rhythms.

The first bit I'm going to show you is the sound of the city park. Let's think of it as the city's lungs. It is in many respects an eye-of-the-storm, and one of the main reasons I saw myself living in Cardiff when it came time to decide whether or not to accept a position in the program. This video of Bute Park is from early October, when it was still unusually sunny and warm. Especially in the past week, the rain has come on and off and transformed the place into the vibrant green of wet grass, the smell of damp leaves, and the sound of the wind rushing through the trees. If you listen carefully, you'll hear activity from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
I like walking home through the park because it affords 1) some safety from the busy streets and sidewalks next to road shoulders that are much too narrow and 2) some psychological release from any residual tension of the day. Besides the background white nose of the streets, its hard to recall you're at the center of a city.

And, as with all good cities, the streets are teeming with performers, including this group, The Firesides, who were advertising their performance later that night (which I unfortunately couldn't attend).

Amused, I continued on my way (I had errands to run), but the universe conspired to arrest my progress again and make me stop and listen to the city.

Other sounds of Cardiff:

The River! I've finally gotten out on the water!

This is a single-person training boat for rowing. After training on it two weeks ago, I got to go out in a larger 4 person boat today as part of the bow pair (the two people at the bow of the boat), closest to the bow itself. It was extremely windy, and we kept getting blown to the sides of the river!

Add the sound of waves lapping against a boat, the rush of water moved by paddles, droplets falling from oars onto water, and the slide of your seat on the rails to the mental sonograph of Cardiff you've started to construct.

The Docks

The docks where we launch the boats has a large number of ENORMOUS swans. Add bird sounds to your sonograph.

Theater!

Waiting for "The Mousetrap!"

And the theater: there is a lot of activity in the arts in Cardiff, and plenty of opportunity to see performances of all kinds. Finish your sonograph with a round of clapping, just like the one you are doing now for my great accomplishment of getting another post out there (FINALLY).

Special mention to the group I saw perform at a local Cardiff bar/club on Friday (The bar: Gwdihw, welsh for "owl", not sure what the group was), which I liked, and the DJ that followed them, which I was not too sure about. This DJ had a good idea, taking 1920s dancing music and trying to combine it with modern styles, but his choices were very confusing, sometimes on the mark and sometimes faaaaar away. Still, better than the karaoke bar we pointedly avoided!