It’s Easter break. Chilly wind blows all day. Cold metal
chairs as steadfast witnesses of the scene: Myer
bag sways as a young man grip tightly to them, lovers exchange sweet
compliments, a mother pushes a baby pram. Loud, lively and busy—it’s none other
than in Bourke Street.
There’s one man who is deep in thought. He’s with his guitar.
The man closes his eyes and picks the guitar strings with his slender fingers.
Head slightly moves side to side. With Bourke Street as his stage, Santos
Bonacci performs Moliendo Café.
The song urges you to stay where you are: watching Santos
performances instead of sheltering yourself from the cold. People don’t want to
leave. They are being rewarded with an exquisite music. As a form of thank you,
Santos stares back at them and smiles. His smile blooms between his slightly
hollowed cheeks and draws his eyes into two curvy lines. And when he nods, his
black fedora covers a half part of his light brown complexion. His frizzy hair
is steady behind the ears, despite the occasional head nods he makes during his
guitar play.
Santos Bonacci was born in Australia of Italian parents. He
grew up in a tobacco farm in Victoria. At the age of nine, he started to play
the Beatles and Cat Stephens. “I grew up watching a few Spanish guitarists and
I really like the guitar. So, I beg my parents to buy me a guitar,” he says. “I
started taking lessons and then I was started getting serious [into music] when
I was 18.”
A man in his late 40s, Santos is a frequent performer in
Bourke Street Mall. Accompanied by an acoustic guitar, he charms the town’s
busy atmosphere into a leisurely café in Spain.
Santos' devoted music performance captivates the pedestrians on Bourke Street.
(Photo by: Pingkan Isabella)
“I can sing some ballads. I can play Flamenco, classical,
baroque—all styles. There’s nothing that I really like the most … So it’s very
eclectic what I do.” Santos also composes songs that are “a fusion of Flamenco,
Latin, and Jazz.” The music he composes was originated by the Southern France
gypsies, which were popularised by the Gipsy Kings in the 80s. After Santos
watched them live in 1989, he was inspired to play the same kind of music.
He recalls the time when he first played the guitar, “The
guitar speaks to you. If you love the guitar, [pause] it speaks to you.” His
voice gives a hint that it is no cliché—he assures that it was real. “It tells
you, ‘you have to play’. Yes, it’s
very powerful. Very powerful.”
Asked how the guitar spoke to him, he answers, “It’s just
everything about it is beautiful.” As he continues, he gazes away, “You wanted,
you desire it. If you’re a guitarist, you desire the guitar. It’s just a
natural inborn desire.”
Santos became fully professional in music since the year
2010. However, he was unsure whether music could help him to make his family a
living. “I thought maybe it was impossible to make a living with music. But
then I took the leap and I was lucky I did. [pause] Very lucky, because I’ve
been able to make a comfortable living for 12 years.”
His decision to be a professional musician has taken him even
further than just a living. His love and passion of music has brought him
overseas: to Japan, India, New Zealand, and America. Santos and his partner
played for the opening keynote speech of Bill Gates in 2001 at the Comdex
Festival, Las Vegas.
Music has played an important part in his life. However to
Santos, it is not as important as finding
the truth. For years, astrotheology has taken his interest. Besides being a
musician, he teaches. He records videos of his teaching and uploads them to
Youtube. He has done many researches to establish his teaching.
His Youtube channel, MrAstrotheology, has gained 6,645
subscribers and 640,689 viewers. A snippet of the channel’s description reads: Astrotheology, Claiming Dominion, Universal,
verifiable, truth. Uncovering deception and lies. Santos has two websites:
SANTOS.net.au which is for his music promotion and UniversalTruthSchool.com
which contains his teaching materials.
“I could not live and be happy without being a musician. But
it’s not as important as [pause]—as other things for me. Truth … , light, and
the invisible sciences are more important.” Four seconds later, he adds,
“Philosophy… [pause] Metaphysics. [pause] Spirituality.”
His voice somehow reflects his thoughts—sonorous, assuring
and firm. His answers are straightforward. Pauses between the words do not beg
to be filled in, but instead supplemental for his quotes.
Same thing occurs with his music. It represents Santos’
being. For Fabio, a Melbourne University arts student whom has lingered in
music world for several years, Santos’ performance is astounding. “It is a form
of art that flows right from his passion—a higher degree of art. His
performances are not mere playing of the instruments, but more as an expression
of his very being,” says Fabio.
Contrary with Fabio; Yara, a casual passerby, doesn’t feel
the same about Santos’ music, “I think he is a talented musician … but I
honestly think that the other street buskers aren’t less talented than he is.”
Nevertheless, Santos feels a lot of joy when he sees people
enjoy his music. He plays devotedly in every performances he has had. “Music
has kept me very, very happy and it’s kept me … young, and healthy, and
happy—all the good things. Music is a great medicine—it’s a spiritual
medicine.”
Then, he adds more, “Music is a
vibration, it’s very healing.”
It’s already the time. Santos gets back to his guitar and
plays the tune of Inspiration. And
there he is: body leans forward, eyes closed, and occasional head moves. The Myer bag stops swinging, sweet
compliments pause, and the baby pram pulls up. The young man, the lovers, and
the mother stop to watch Santos. Once again, Santos charms the Bourke Street.
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| Photos by Pingkan Isabella |
a short documentary of Santos created by 3DArtTechnology
