Week 36: 'I am in the joy business. I come out here to be with the people.'

Wonder spawned in: 2000s
Wondered into being by: Mostly anonymous folk
Wonderspan: Less than 10 minutes unless you want mooooore. 
To experience this wonder at its best: Make sure you can hear the sound and click 'full screen'.

This Monday's wonder is a travelling concert of street music - a whistlestop whizz around the spontaneous sounds of the world's towns and cities.  We're lolling under lampposts, perched outside cafes, larging it up in shopping malls and and going daft in city parks.  Street music is the original pop-up wotsit and it's still the coolest, simplest, cheapest and most joyful - brought into the centre of our societies from the people who live, in one way or another, at its fringes.  You're going to have a good Monday today.  Begin your carbon-neutral world trip by picking a link at random (the first one's my favouritest):

• The Sukaro Jazz Band in Melbourne play gypsy swing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDlvSimy3CM

• Banjo Ben and Abby the Spoon Lady play a bluegrass number in Ashville, North Carolina: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGbToeovkrg

• Petr Spatina wows Vienna with his 'glass harp' with added antics: www.youtube.com/watch?v=re-IGNui7Oo

• Travelling one-man band Ryan Baer is in mellow soulful, late summer mood at Waterloo Farmers' and Crafters' Market Cooperative in Waterloo, Ontario. His bucket's got a hole in it - we've all been there: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwV5OgV2_Ik

• Tombstone Pete on London's Southbank abuses the guitar to good effect: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7QD34-n8OU

• We're Playing for Change again; Roger Ridley kicks us off in Santa Monica, California: https://vimeo.com/24790207    The video notes say that Roger was asked: with a voice as powerful as his, why was he singing on the streets? He replied, 'I am in the joy business. I come out here to be with the people.'

• Daft skiing music by someone somewhere in (it had to be) America: www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3pUImnYyYw

• Acapella Soul cheer up the New York subway: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWgOjEI52BI

• Back up on the New York streets, Melissa Kacalanos is playing one of the most ludicrous instruments ever invented: www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Oy8FaBirQ  And then explains how they work: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT56auxMT74

• I think Bach would be glad that Nani Ion from Latvia would one day play his stuff on the accordion.  This is in Parma, Italy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGKZ4ELygcE ...

• ...while in Krakow an anonymous trio of accordionists salute Bach in his full counterpoint glory: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VDoEfHBABI

• Dub FX (probably not the name his mum gave him) turns an Amsterdam street into a cathedral and fills it with sound while giving us a loopstation lesson in the process:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bioYs6oAD8g (Thanks to Sarah G for suggesting this one)

• In Jaisalmer, India, this musician really belts out his song on his kamaicha - one of the world's most ancient bowed instruments.  He seems to enjoy every word; I'd like to think it's a love song and that he sings it to remember some love he's glad to have known: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv_7sULmnm0

• A wary child takes a prudent step back from crazy-haired Ivan Hayek as he plays pop on the accordion in Munich: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG3bE858QTw

• On Edinburgh's Royal Mile, Daniel Waples and friend play their Swiss-made hangs: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_DhNLCyVss

• Is this the funkiest street band in the world?  They hang out in Las Palmas, Gran Canarias, creating a fusion out of just about every musical style there is.  I've no idea what they're called: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXFyarzpahg  And if you liked that, here's some more: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR2p3UED4VU

Phew, dizzy.  So, what have I missed?  Latin America, East Asia and the whole of Africa, for starters... Leave a comment to share your own...

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