Summer is just beginning to peak in November in Santiago, and on this incredibly hot day, Sebastián, Giles, Mardy, Nick and I take a bus to the other side of Santiago to meet this legend.
Freddy Torbela is an unassuming older man, with long salt and pepper hair. People know him as Freddy Charango. Yet when his passion ignites and he begins singing, it hits you deep. You understand immediately that he is sharing a piece of his soul.
He is a transit player and singer, so after the initial greetings the whole team crowds onto the sticky, humid bus with him to capture his act. The route he chooses is served by a long, accordion bus, the ones with the bendy midsection. That’s where he stands, directly in the middle, and the team takes their place to shoot. We don’t have quite the right equipment to film in such a tight spot, so they struggle to bend out of the way from each others frames. Mardy, Giles and Nick are trying to shoot in all directions.
I settle in, kneeling low in front of Freddie, holding a mic up high. Bouncing and jostled by the movement of the bus, turning and twisting on the moving platform, it’s difficult to stay upright and focused on Freddy.
The crowds know him, his presence is welcome and infamous around Santiago. If he gets on your bus, you are in for a treat.
As he plays, everyone is hushed and attentive to his every note. This bus transforms into an intimate theater as we all share the ebb and flow of his melodies. I take a moment to look up at all the faces, and everyone looks so tranquil, even in the discomfort of the crowds and heat.
Traveling at 50kms down the main streets of Santiago, this group of strangers share this moment of connection, to Freddie, and to each other as they look at one another feeling the same peace of mind in that moment. For a bus trip this is about as beautiful as it gets.
Freddie knows this route well, and as the music crescendos and completes just as we near the next stop. He announces his hat line, in Spanish of course, so I don’t catch his words but the public do and erupt with applause. He holds out his hat and people actually get up to tip him! It’s the opposite of the normal transit hat – most buskers have to go around with the hat to collect. I’m nearly trampled by his fans.
Then the bus finally stops, and I finally lose my balance and fall over onto the floor and the doors open as the crowds are released.
see more of Freddy’s work here: