Sounds Of Paris In The Summer

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

Think now about walking down a city street, in summer, especially an American city, and adding to the din is the humming of air conditioning units. In places where air conditioning is mostly nonexistent, the warm weather brings a whole other set of sounds into the street. Eleanor Beardsley sends us this audio postcard from Paris.

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: One of the things I love about Paris in the summertime is that everyone throws their apartment windows wide open, and all of the sudden, the city's interior world comes floating out into the street.

(Soundbite of child crying)

BEARDSLEY: The sounds are a kind of glimpse into the private lives of Parisians. As conversations and laughter drift out into the air, I let my imagination wonder inside to picture the city's fashionable denizens in their boudoirs and salons. But mostly, the sounds are just about the hum of daily life: a baby crying, a phone ringing, someone practicing the piano.

(Soundbite of music)

BEARDSLEY: And stroll down almost any street around lunch or dinnertime, and you'll be greeted by the clanking of plates and glasses around the table.

(Soundbite of glasses clanking)

BEARDSLEY: The sounds bring a human, intimate quality to Paris, as if everyone is sharing one big slice of life in this magnificent city. Of course, it works the other way around, too. The warm weather brings the street in through your open windows.

(Soundbite of traffic)

BEARDSLEY: Sometimes it's the annoying buzz of a scooter when you're trying to watch television, but there's one summer sound intrusion that I always welcome.

(Soundbite of music)

BEARDSLEY: It starts with one, lone trumpet at the end of the street, and grows steadily louder until a band of gypsy street musicians is under your window serenading the entire block. And then heads pop out of all those open windows, and coins rain down into the street. And that's the magic sound of summertime in Paris.

(Soundbite of song, "Hello, Dolly")

BEARDSLEY: For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.

(Soundbite of song, "Hello, Dolly")

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

Okay, trumpeters playing an old Louis Armstrong hit may captivate residents of modern Paris, but let's talk about the Paris of the past.

(Soundbite of song, "La Marseillaise")

INSKEEP: Crowds will gather tomorrow in Paris, because tomorrow is Bastille Day. They're commemorating the storming of the Bastille Prison in 1789, a crucial moment in the French Revolution. So this week, Music Commentator Miles Hoffman will guide us through the sounds of that era more than 200 years ago. From performances for aristocrats to the battle cries of the masses, we'll hear the music of revolutionary Paris tomorrow on MORNING EDITION from NPR News.

I'm Steve Inskeep.

MONTAGNE: And I'm Renee Montagne. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.