Street Artists in Krakow

The streets of Krakow near the city center have been buzzing ever since we arrived. You can hear various languages getting tossed back and forth among pedestrians, people shopping, and people eating at the square’s restaurants. Other noticeable people include Krakow’s many street performers. So many exist, some handing out flyers, such as a woman dressed as a butterfly handing out club promotions, or a man dressed in a mirror suit, directing people into another club. Other performers have been interesting to watch, and strike me as being very unique to Krakow, than other cities.

One interesting street performance group consisted of a cello, an accordion, a percussion, and two violin players. Seeing an accordion player on the street is something unusual to see as a New Yorker, so my head turned and I stopped to listen to the young, all male group playing an upbeat, happy tune.

Another day, coming out of the old Krakow museum, my ears were pleasantly surprised to hear the musical stylings of a middle-aged man playing water glass rims to the melody of Fur Elise.

This past Tuesday, a public Krakow television station TVP3 was holding a public concert with a band consisting of two male electric guitarists, a female violinist, and male accordion player who sang alongside a female vocalist for a crowd of about forty. Their music was catchy, upbeat, and had a heavy metal edge to it. Though this group was not seeking donations, as the other street performers are.

The other street performers I found interesting were a band of female tambourine player, male accordion player, and male percussionist playing traditional Polish music and dressed in traditional Polish garb. I love how many accordion players I’ve been seeing! It’s such a unique instrument for a New Yorker to see, and it’s smart for street performers who have the immense talent to play one of these instruments to show off that ability to tourists.

Street painters have not been as common, though I have seen them. One of our student guides advised me though to not buy paintings from them, as they’re low quality and meant to rip off tourists; that better art exists in Poland.

Finally, the last type of street performers are the lovely drunk pedestrians of the Krakow streets ;P Krakow is known to be a city where people come to drink, as drink prices are very low. Bachelor and bachelorette parties are common here, and after a few drinks, groups of intoxicated people on the street can be likely to break out into song. I can’t wait to see even more street performers and artists in the next few days!