Art and Music Abroad
Posted on October 8, 2024 by Sofia Maldonado
As I was abroad in Madrid, Spain, several things stood out to me. The thing that stood out the most to me was the amount of art and music present in the city. Many times throughout my time in Madrid, I had to stop and admire the music I could hear or the art that I saw. On my second day around the city I encountered a man playing a harp on the street, so naturally I stopped for a little while and listened to him play.
Several times while changing from one metro line to the next, I ran across a person singing or playing an instrument in the hallways. One of my favorite musical encounters was when I visited El Rastro. El Rastro is basically a large market where there are many different kiosks selling everything from clothes to jewelry. As I was walking and looking at everything I heard a really beautiful melody, and followed the sound until I came to a man that was playing an instrument called a handspan. The sound was so mesmerizing, I had never heard anything like it in person before.
Madrid is a city that also has loads of art. There are several museums and art exhibits that are filled with all kinds of art displays. Two of my favorite art museums were the Museo del Prado and the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum.
When I went to the Thyssen, I spent almost a whole afternoon just looking at every piece in the museum. One day my class went around a neighborhood called La Latina, which has loads of street art. Our teacher was very knowledgeable and explained to us what almost all of the murals represented and it was such a beautiful experience.