The Underground Orchestra

Madonna and Michael Jackson aside, a musician's life can be a tough one. For the street musicians of Paris, there are no royalties, no limos, and no brown M&M's removed from the backstage feast. They live a life on the move, avoiding the police long enough to collect a few tips for their tunes on metro cars and street corners. They are driven not only by hunger and a desire to keep a roof over their heads, but also by the internal urge to create and perform. Like John Lee Hooker says, "if it's in you, it's gotta come out...by any means necessary." Many of the people featured here were accomplished professional musicians in their homelands, but are now refugees, living in exile from Bosnia, Vietnam, Spain, Africa, and Argentina. In one particularly poignant scene, the camera lingers on the accomplished hands of a piano player as beautiful notes are coaxed from the keyboard. As he plays, his voice-over describes the torture he received in Argentina, where his tormentors threatened to cut his hands off. His crime? Making classical music accessible to the lower economic strata. An engaging look at the lives behind the music, this is recommended for larger humanities collections with flush budgets. Aud: C, P. (C. Block)