Aug 02 2007
Unplugged
I thought I had seen it all.
But now we just stood there, mesmerised : right in front of St. Jakob church on the medieval paving in the old town of Villach, a young man - alone, totally absorbed - played his guitar and at the same time juggled an array of electronic devices with his feet, making some really beautiful instrumental music. Multiple instruments, mind you!
The contrast to his venerable surroundings couldn’t be bigger. He turned out to be an Australian in Austria and personally handcrafted his unusual four-string guitar from an old, precious piece of piano. He composes his music as he plays along and sells it on CDs.
An unconventional fellow, like many others we saw at Villach’s annual StreetArt Festival last week : very friendly, utterly passionate about what they do, and very non-conformist. I like people like that.
For adults it takes courage, though, to be different and stick out from the crowd - I wonder why sometimes.
After all, it’s a fact that we are all different - nobody is exactly like anyone else, not even ‘identical’ twins. And that’s a good thing : just imagine how boring life would be if we were all the same.
If it is natural to be different, why are most of us afraid to show and express our uniqueness?
