Last Friday night, my friend and I spotted this group of Galician Gaiteiros (bagpipe players from Galicia, an autonomous region in the North West of Spain) roaming the streets. I’m not sure what the difference is between a “gaita” and a Scottish bagpipe. They sound just the same to my untrained ear – like cats in heat being trodden on by spiky heels.
Next up, a guitar player setting up in one of Toledo’s main shopping streets. He’s struggling to find himself a suitable spot amidst the perpetual digging-up-of-pipes.
What a fetching outfit! Love the purple socks…
This one’s a regular, he plays his cello outside Toledo Cathedral every weekend.
I’ve featured the lovely Ana Alcaide and her nyckelharpa once before in this post, but here she is again, seeing that she is a local and a regular, as well as the most famous.
Lady Of The Cakes 
Ana has to be THE classiest busker EVER.
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She is 🙂
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It all seems so romantic, like a soundtrack to a city.
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The only thing missing is you dancing down the cobbled streets in your ballgown 🙂
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You know I would!
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Ana is beautiful. Must ask the Long-Suffering Husband (Swedish-American) about the nyckelharpa!
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You want one as a Christmas present…?
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I want to test his Swedish culture knowledge! He went there as an exchange student… but this seems quite esoteric.
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OK… I don’t fancy his chances…
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Anna dancing to Ana would be a sight to behold! You should change the name of this to Friday Faffery – I love that word and it seems to have caught on! 🙂
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Good idea!
…is it not in Irish circulation…?
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Yeah, I’d heard of it! Faffing around was part of my life 😉 I was more surprised other people hadn’t heard of it!
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Phew. I added it to my vocab in 1996. Just as well, seeing as I spend half my life (OK, 90% of my non-sleeping time) faffing.
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Frippery – another great word 😉 Frippery Friday 😉
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YES! I think I might have used that one already…
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Aw, really?! Oh well. Plenty more F words out there 😉
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C-words are my favourites. Cake, chocolate, cookies, crisps….
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C-wine?
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Oink!
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🙂 It works on so many levels!
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Squee 😉
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Love these buskers. (That’s what we would call them here in NYC.)
I admit I had to look up nyckelharpa. Quite an instrument, that is. I can’t even play a regular guitar. I can’t imagine trying to play this thing. 🙂
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LOL, a formidable contraption, for sure! Sounds very pleasant. At least, when she plays it 😉
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I love street musicians… they put music in the air letting everyone get enchanted by it… around the world there are several instruments similar to bagpipes, also in Sardinia there are pipers -zampognari- playing in the streets (and sometimes for the holiday season you may find them also in northern Italy and Switzerland). Wish you a lovely weekend :-)c
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I’ve just looked up zampognari… more bagpipes! 🙂
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I saw a piper and a juggler when I was in Toledo – got very excited, but the tour guide didn’t stop long enough for me to listen or get a good photo.
To my understanding, the difference between the gaita and the Great Highland Bagpipe (full proper name for the Scottish sort) is that the GHB has three drones while the gaita usually just has one (or occasionally two). Bagpipes can be found all over the world (most notably in Scotland, Ireland, Galicia, Britanny, Bulgaria, and anywhere with any sort of Scottish influence), but there are some regional differences… such as the number of drones, whether the drones fall over the shoulder or just sort of dangle, and whether you blow into the bag or operate it with an elbow pump (uillean pipes).
Any sort looks like some sort of deformed goat when it’s not being played, though. (And sometimes even then).
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Yes, deformed goat, spot on! 🙂
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