Last weekend, Schrobbenmaster and I wandered around town and had an unintentionally huge lunch at Dudok. The servers were so unfriendly and unhappy, so disappointing! That place is always so full and popular that I thought it would be a good experience. The food was good though, that's the only thing. I had the pain d'antan with tuna salad, and Schrobbenmaster had some croquette and tomato soup.
After lunch, we wandered around some more, and eventually ended up at Beursplein. I was pretty poofed by then, made worse by walking briskly right after a huge lunch, so we found a bench to rest on. A few minutes later, three street performers appeared with percussion instruments. One had a normal 'big band' sort of drum, another an African or South American sort of drum that hung from his neck, and the last, who seemed to be the main character, sat on a chair with a big bongo drum.
At first, I thought they were just typical street performers, gonna bang about a bit and entertain us for a while, but after listening for a couple minutes, I realised, "Hey, these guys are good!". I then thought that maybe they were music school students and just out looking for some fun and some extra money in tips, but a few minutes later I changed my mind again. The rhythm and beats were really exciting and complex, and the way they were so into the performance showed that they were actually experienced performers and truly loved what they did. And do it well they certainly did.
Apparently, they are Convoi Exceptional, a group of 4 percussionists and 1 saxophonist, and they have performed on streets around Europe, also New York and possibly more. They also perform at festivals and music halls and have been around for about 5 years. Go visit the website!
In the picture above, check out the right of the picture, where there is a boy watching them keenly in jeans and long-sleeved shirt. I guess he was really feelin' the beats cuz here's what he did during half the performance:
That's his sister next to him, trying to get him to stop upstaging her and stealing the limelight. She got told off by the parents for that. Hehe.
One lady even went up to the Convoi bag to give some coins, then went to the little boy and gave him a coin as well. He just paused, wheels turning in his brain, then walked to the Convoi bag and tossed that coin in. Cute!
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