Posts Tagged "streetphoto"
Maria: Iron Maiden Fan
Maria was walking with a guitar on her back and sporting an Iron Maiden t-shirt. For some reason, t-shirts of 1970s-1980s rock groups were popular this year in Moscow (especially among those born way after these groups became popular). Though I think it's more of a fashion trend that a sign of music taste for many, Maria said she liked Iron Maiden. She said she played the harp for many heard and then moved over to the flute. She doesn't play the guitar, but was rathering kindly carrying it for her friend. Maria said she really likes physics and may pursue that in university. When I mentioned I switched over to the history faculty after burning out on quantum physics, she pulled a book out of her bag to show me what she was currently reading. It was titled something like "The secrets of quantum physics."
Inga: Voronezh Street Artist
Inga was standing on a main street in Voronezh selling her paintings starting at 150 rubles ($4), her husband at her side. She said that her pre-revolutionary ancestors were aristocrats and that also had Latvian roots, which explains her Scandinavian name (Inga). She said she has been selling paintings on the street for more than a decade, so I asked Inga for the most interesting moment, expecting to hear something about a big sale. Instead, Inga said she used to be quite attractive 10 years ago. One day, a pimp noticed her and tried to get her into the prostitution business, promising large sums of money. When I bought a small painting, she took out a pen and signed her name on the back of it.
Nikita: Voronezh Street Musician
Nikita was talking with a police officer, a girlfriend at his side, when I saw him on a Main Street in Voronezh in central Russia. The street musician, armed with a guitar and microphone, had angered either a store owner or resident on the street and the officer was asking him to move. As he collected his stuff, I chatted with him. He said he rode a motorbike around town, enabling him to avoid the bad traffic in the city. He hoped to upgrade to a Honda and said he would like to open his own motorcycle repair shop. Nikita was talking with a police officer, a girlfriend at his side, when I saw him on a Main Street in Voronezh in central Russia. The street musician, armed with a guitar and microphone, had angered either a store owner or resident on the street and the officer was asking him to move. As he collected his stuff, I chatted with him. He said he rode a motorbike around town, enabling him to avoid the bad traffic in the city. He hoped to upgrade to a Honda and said he would like to open his own motorcycle repair shop.
Alexei: Russian with Spanish Roots (2)
I asked Alexei, the brutual death metal musician, if he was from Moscow. He said yes, but that he wasn't 100% Russian. I expected him to say Ukrainuan, Bulgarian or some other East European background. He said he was part Spanish and that thise roots go back to his great grandparents, communists who first fought Franco in the 1930s before coming to the Soviet Union to fight Nazi Germany.
Alexei: Russian with Spanish Roots
I will continue with the music theme today before moving on to Voronezh portraits. I saw Alexei in his unusual boots and just had to stop him for a chat. Just as he told me he played 'brutual death metal,' some other guy also noticed Alexei and came over to join us. The other guy interrupted me and started talking to Alexei about boots, music and something else, but I couldn't understand him well as he was quite intoxicated and his words slurred. Alexei gave him some change and he walked away, a bottle of dark liquor sticking out of his bag. Alexei then told me a bit more about his music and that he was also studying computer programming. He ended our conversation with his family history that I will share in my next post of Alexei.
Andrei: Voronezh Street Musician
Russia Street Musician Series: Andrei strumming his guitar as people walk by him in the Voronezh street underpass.
Andrei was playing a guitar in a pedestrian underpath below one of Voronezh's main roads. He said he lives in the suburbs and studies math and physics. He said he may become a teacher
Victor: Singing for Ukrainian Church
Victor was sitting on the sidewalk near a Moscow metro station singing softly as he played the guitar. A sign next to him said he was raising money for a damaged church in Lugansk in Eastern Ukraine. He said plays to raise money on his days off from work and that he has raised money for other churches in the past.
Dima: Street Musician in Underpass
Another photo of Dima playing music as a city works sweeps cigarette butts and dirt around hit. Dima was singing a song by Tantsi Minus that translates roughly as "I am coming for you," a love song. It was coincidental that the woman just happened to be walking by as he sung that song.
Nikita: Street Musician
Nikita, a beatbox performer, said he got into the music genre after seeing a video on the Internet. He said his father works in the lucrative oil and gas industry and wants Nikita to follow in his footsteps. Considering his father's background, I was surprised to hear that Nikita did his military service rather than find a way out. He added that he was discharged early after an argument with his senior led to a few knife wounds in his side.
Igor: Moscow Street Musician
Igor was playing next to the exit of a Moscow suburban train stop at the edge of the city. I askedif I coukd take his photo and he said yes if I gave him a beer or cigarettes. He asked where I was from and when I told him NYC, he said 'take me with you.' I asked him why he wanted to leave. He said people don't understand rock music here like they do in the US. Ironically, he was playing 'Smoke on the Water' by Deep Purple, thd favorite band of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
