music at the farmer’s market

i think i’ve mentioned before that the farmer’s market that i like to go to on weekends often has musicians along the edges. it seems that in the past year those musicians have become more varied and prolific. whereas i remember in years past that there was a piccolo player and an occasional bagpiper, yesterday at the market there was also someone playing the pan pipes along with pre-recorded music (mr. happy stuff was so excited–the music was apparently a piece from the movie, “kill bill”), there was a cellist and a violinist duet, there was a slide guitar player, there was someone playing an electric keyboard and my favorite–a group of about a dozen or so shaped-note singers. i sat down on a nearby bench in the hope of surreptitiously* listening to them a little longer. they were wearing coverings and other trappings of a conservative religion and mr. happy stuff had this slightly panicky look when we stopped as he furtively whispered, “they’re not mennonites or anything–i think they’re more like a cult!” but i assured him that i wasn’t interested in joining their religion, i just wanted to listen to them sing for a little while. if you’ve ever heard shape note singing, you’ll know that it’s not necessarily the most “beautiful” of music, but it has a certain appeal and i really enjoyed my short stop on the bench.

*i’m pretty sure i spelled this word wrong. this word has never been the same for me since i listened to a recording of one of the hank the cowdog stories where hank describes sneaking onto the back of a pickup truck as being “surreptitious” and then goes on to define the word for listeners as coming from the root word “syrup” because you move so slowly.