Play me I'm yours!

There was a surprise the other day when I went to “my” park - there was a piano… and a sign said: “Play me – I’m yours”. I might have, but without my scores, I’m lost (bad excuse).

… and a further surprise, in front of the main entrance stood another one!

Well, launched in 2008 by a British artist (Luke Jerram), pianos like these have been installed in parks, train stations… in a number of cities around the world - until now some 600 pianos. Linked to the “Fête de la Musique” (see previous post) the French Ministry of Culture now launched it in Paris. Altogether some 40 pianos have been placed at different spots in Paris and they will remain there until July 8. Then, they will be lent to different associations until a new campaign next year. They are of course old pianos but quite OK to play, in general decorated by some street artist. 

During a Saturday afternoon, after a timid start (great thanks to the young kids), more and more people played and attracted a little crowd.

I checked a bit also the following days. Amazing, the number of people who can play. Here is a man playing jazz, a lady who brought her scores and played Chopin, a charming Cuban-born lady who played Bach...

Unfortunately, and as one could fear, all the pianos are not as well treated as the ones in "my" park. I found this one on Place de Clichy.

Talking about vandalism. You may have noticed that I'm quite in favour of good street art, urban art (see a number of posts), but I'm also against wild tagging. The City of Paris offers cleaning, free of charge, of such tagging. Here you can see one of the city agents in action.


















Added June 30:
... and one week after my first pciture, the pianos in "my" park are still there. The "concerts" go on. I only regret that I didn't bring my camera more often.

Added July 1: