The Artistic Work of Street Musicians in Barcelona and Rio De Janeiro: Interstices of Work and Leisure

Abstract

This paper explores the social practice of musicians who play in the streets and public spaces of Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona. We investigated the appropriation of these social spaces, the commodification of art on the streets, and the work/leisure relationship in the daily lives of these artists. Ethnographic methods were used for 24 months and included observations and interviews with 23 street musicians in these two cities. The interviewed musicians develop strategies aimed at meeting the need to survive from their art. The work/leisure relation is configured strangely in the social practice of these subjects and differently in the two cities. Nevertheless, the time/social space in which work and leisure are materialized in the daily life of the researched street musicians is directly related to the possible overlapping of one realm over the other.