I was working in London a couple of years ago, it was early summer, I was standing in the street outside a pub, smoking a cigarette whilst waiting on a colleague.
Faintly I could here this flute or whistle being played, erratically, randomly. I then could see this lad, late twenties, shabbily dressed, curly hair, didn't look the full shilling. The road was quite busy and he was walking along, constantly playing away at his whistle, as he passed folk I could see them smile to themselves as if, "poor lad, not playing with the full deck". As he passed by, something started to strike me about the sounds he was playing, they at first collection seemed like gibberish, but the more I listened there seemed to be something to it, almost like I'd heard it before but not quite, as the buses and cars rolled by, this boy played amid the general hubbub of the city, it then struck me,he was playing the city. It sounds crazy but this lad was improvising back to the sounds of a dog barking engine noise people's chatter. He was intertwining all these sounds together, giving some moments little twirls or flicks at the end or accentuating others, it was absolutely mind blowing. I was entranced, I stood transfixed as this music danced with the street. I started to notice that the music was growing fainter and I started walking towards it, I didn't want it to end, I wanted to thank him. It was at this moment my colleague turned up. I began to try and tell him about what had just happened, that I had been touched by magic, that I had been taken on a journey outside of myself. But I just slipped back into my everyday persona.
Ever since that day I think of that music, that feeling often, I dream of it, it has changed me, there is magic in the world.
The Next Level
The Intelligent Alternative