Underground Musicians

A documentary about the life of the migrant musicians from Romania working "underground" in Paris Metro (subway).

“Ladies, gentlemen, thank you, the samba !”

After a sudden cry in broken French, the guitar starts.
Then the percussions follow.
Finally the accordion starts the melody.
The music is so loud, maybe too loud to play in the commuter subway train. If they can let the passengers well into their music, they are the winner. The train car is filled with enthusiasm and laughter. But if they can’t,…then it’s terrible. The music just echoes in the silent space. Some people even change their seats to escape from their loud music.

Paris Metro (subway) is always filled with music performed live by musicians, pleasing especially many tourists, who could feel that they are actually in the city of “joie de vivre (joy of life)”. However, many of the musicians are not Parisians, not even French. They are mostly from some other countries in Eastern Europe or Africa, in order to support their family back home, where there has been a serious economic disaster.

RATP, the company that runs the Paris Metro clearly states that they will fine musicians who play in the Metro without their authorization. However, many play “underground” because they don’t have time to wait (it takes months to get the authorization) nor valid visa to gain money legally on the French terrain. They usually come with the tourist visa which allows them 3-month stay, then go back to “reset” and earn another 3 months.

This is a story about a musician group from Romania, who always play cheerful Latin dance music kind, like salsa, rumba or samba. Some have a music backbone from their Gypsy origin, some are from completely different occupation, like ex-tradesman into unemployment who haven’t really played music before. Despite their cheerful look, worn for the cheerful music performance, their life is quite hard. They usually earn 5 euros each a day, and still have to pay for the hotel. In addition, there always is the risk of getting kicked out, or even fined during their “work”.