(And I’m using “diva” in the best possible sense.)
Last Wednesday I pulled up to the Pickens County Flea Market to find a large sprinter van parked in my usual spot. I was a bit perturbed, but pulled around to the other side of the shed and started setting up my gear for the morning’s music session.
As I started warming up on my banjo this woman stepped from around the van. She was stunning, elegant, and looked out of place for the market. She and her husband were set up with a variety of things, including some music instruments.
She was intrigued with the banjo (surprisingly), and we struck up a conversation. I detected an Eastern European accent. Turns out she was from Romania. She had been a music teacher, too, as well as an opera singer. She said she had performed all over Europe, but was forced to stop because of vocal damage. She and her husband had lived in Telluride, CO, for the past 25 years, but now they were traveling around and selling at markets.
I invited her to join our musicians circle, but she declined. She had her sales to run, but she did grace us with a few lines from an aria. Despite the damage, she had a beautiful voice.
I was hoping she and her husband would be back yesterday, but it seems they have moved on. I really wanted to hear more of her story. How did she wind up in the US? What was her life like in Europe? She was of the age to have grown up under Ceaușescu, and I wonder what that had been like. I’m afraid I’ll never know.
Her story is just one of many amazing tales I’ve heard at the flea market. I just want to record them all. I had thought about doing a podcast with these stories, but it turns out that many of these sellers don”t want to speak on the record. Oh well.