It’s was July 21, 2014. I remember because it was the Fête de la Musique, Music Day in France, and there were performers everywhere, on every corner, playing music of every kind.
I was in Poitiers and remember giggling at the sound of salsa playing along one of the streets I was passing by. I felt as if my worlds we colliding. I had been in France for some time at this point, and was starting to feel like I need to be re-energize as I still had a long way to go before I reunited with my family there.
I walked around the corner, and there, in an outdoor café, were the musicians. I knew immediately I wanted to get a photo, but it mustered the courage to use my very lousy French to ask.
I approached them shyly but with a smile.
“May I take your photo?” I had actually gotten very good at saying this in French, as I found myself asking it often.
I expected that they would just pose with their instruments and smile. Instead, they began to play, nothing in particular, but happily for me to capture.
I got my shot and thanked them, but they kept on playing tunes, laughing and talking as they did, even as I slowly walked away, looking back at them, hoping that their contagious joie de vivre stayed with me, and them, forever as it has in this photo.
“Les Musiciens de Poitiers” – Poitiers, France, 2014
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