In Porto, Portugal, pedestrians might see many strange and unusual sights. While strolling, they can hear the unique music of a punch note card hand crank music box. If they follow the sound, they may come face-to-face with a street busker. He’s been a street performer with an audience of birds for many years.
Videos by InspireMore
Porto, Portugal, is the second largest city in the country (Lisbon is the largest). With a fantastic tourist trade, visitors could spend days there and not see everything. But if you ever visit, you should listen carefully and follow your ears to see one of the most famous street performers in the city, with his array of odd birds.
In 2018, one tourist took some time to learn more about the man and recorded a YouTube video about his experience. The man lives just outside the city with his family and travels into town each day to perform. Some days, his children accompany him, but most recent videos show the man performing alone to his audience of birds.
The flock of birds includes several chickens, doves, and even a pale yellow parakeet. His cart has several perches for the birds, with wind chimes that add to the music. The music box is a hand-cranked punch-card instrument. The songs are on stiff cards that feed through the machine as the handle turns. Each hole in the card produces a different musical note.
As the street performer produces the tinny music, each bird sits on a perch, listening intently. The man’s smiling face greets tourists as they stroll the city streets. The array of birds seems content to stare into the street as the music plays and the man taps the wind chimes.
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You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.
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