It’s a fact that most musicians work very hard to try to become famous. They take all the exposure they can get, starting with small gigs and hoping to get noticed by a record label so that they can get their music heard by more people.
They dream of performing in jam-packed stadiums and selling enough albums to go platinum or even win awards.
But Borja Catanesi is perfectly content where he is.
For a busker trying to get by on the streets, life can be pretty hard. You stand in all weather hoping that some generous passerby with drop a few notes for you, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll even make anything when you’re relying solely on the kindness of strangers.
Nevertheless, Borja Catenesi enjoys playing on the streets for strangers – he’s even managed to gain a moderate amount of fame this way.
26-year-old Borja is originally from Valencia, Spain. He plays the guitar and piano and loves to travel all around the world to create magic on the street with his art. And he does it all for the sheer love of music.
In fact, he’s so talented and prolific that he’s been awarded the impressive title of “Best Street Musician in the World.”
“People keep telling me, “You could get more famous and take the stage”. But I love to play in the open air. Personally, I don’t need 5000 people to feel realized. I reach thousands of people through my videos,” he told Rolling Stone.
He uploads videos of his performances onto his YouTube channel.
There’s something special about the spontaneous and candid interactions with the people he meets.
One of the most unique and compelling videos on his channel, titled “Jamming from the Balcony with a Busker,” features an impromptu jam session with another musician while Borja was traveling through Geldrop in The Netherlands.
The video was uploaded in February 2021, and it’s already received more than 200,000 views.
The other musician was Thomas Linders, an audio engineering student at the Fontys School of the Fine and Performing Arts.
Thomas is an expert pianist, and he and his wife, Michelle, are both singers and songwriters. They own a company called TML Music And Media, where they offer their professional music services.
Thomas decided to bring his keyboard out to his balcony so he and Borja could riff together – and the result is incredible.
Borja, who is down in the square, begins playing a funky riff on his electric guitar and Thomas follows up with some killer keyboard.
The two quickly find their groove and soon they are jamming like old friends.
Borja walks closer until he’s underneath Thomas’ balcony. Then, he “answers” Thomas as if he’s serenading him.
He fingerpicks a fast, bluesy tune that’s reminiscent of a Mark Knopfler or Eric Clapton solo – as if he’s challenging Thomas to play faster too.
And Thomas delivers with gusto.
Unfortunately, they can’t play together because of the distance between them, as YouTube user
Lehmann Peters pointed out in the video’s comments section:
“They can do call and respond, but playing together would be difficult because of latency issues due to the distance between them. If you’re more than 25 feet from another player you’re going to have problems. Thus, in ear monitors and the band mix!”
To which Borja himself responded:
“True! We tried to jam together but the latency made it quite impossible. What you suggest would be the final solution.”
Thomas picks up the funky riffs that Borja is laying down and the two go on like this – one calling and the other responding.
And viewers are loving it!
“All emotions apart, two wonderful minds expressing happiness via instruments. How great the world would be if people became like these wonderful duo’s,” one user wrote.
And another:
“We’ve seen alot of this thru Covid. People uniting over music. It’s a beautiful thing. I hope the world keeps it going.”
Watching these two talented musicians “talking” to each other in the language of music is simply incredible. Music really does bring people from all walks of life together!
To see Borja and Thomas’ funky jam session, watch the video below.
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