Since the end of last year, Entrecampos has had a community piano to offer music and joy to passengers and passers-by at the train station. This initiative by Portuguese technology company Critical Software has generated surprises and unexpected stories.
Train stations are usually places of passage, marked by rush, time and stress. However, the piano installed in Entrecampos at the end of last year has shown that these interfaces can also be places of tranquillity, where you can simply stop for a while to play or listen to music.
Since November 2023, Entrecampos train station has had a community piano, which anyone can play for free. The initiative was launched in November 2023 by Portuguese technology company Critical Software, and has since proved to be a success. "At first, I had big doubts. I was afraid that in public spaces people would be shy and wouldn't use the piano. It's not something that's very present in Portuguese culture, is it?"
João Carreira, executive director of Critical Software, was largely responsible for placing a community piano in Entrecampos. "We even made some contacts with music schools to come here regularly with the kids, but in the end it wasn't necessary. From day one, we can come here at any time and there will always be someone playing"says the executive. "I don't know how so many people play the piano in this city"he jokes.
There have been very few times in recent months when we've passed Entrecampos and heard silence. In the morning, at night, in the afternoon, at lunchtime. There's almost always someone anonymous standing by the piano playing for passers-by. Sometimes people stop for a moment by the piano, either to listen more carefully to the music, take a photo or even congratulate the pianist. "Sometimes I get a message saying: 'look João, go and see the piano, there's a guy there who looks like Elton John'. I go and look and there's someone dressed like Elton John playing the piano really well. Or 'go and see that there's now a group of people playing violin and trumpet with the piano'. These moments happen a lot"says João Carreira.
What happens at the Entrecampos piano can be followed 24 hours a day via streamingthrough the website the-piano.co.uk. There is a camera pointing at the piano area and a sign telling people that the area is being filmed and broadcast. In addition to Entrecampos, there is also a piano at the Trindade metro station in Porto, and soon there will be a piano somewhere in Coimbra, in a location yet to be defined. "But the piano we put in Entrecampos has a funny story"says João. "I was presenting the idea to our executive committee, which is a group of seven people. Everyone loved it. And a colleague told me that he has a piano at home that he hasn't played since he was a teenager and that he would be delighted to offer it to put in Entrecampos."
For a technology company, a piano is a very analog instrument. But João guarantees that, apart from the online transmission, there is nothing digital about this initiative. The aim is simply to commemorate Critical Software's 25th anniversary. "We feel that it wasn't just our personal effort or Critical's effort that got us to these 25 years, but everyone around us, everything, the infrastructure, the train stations, the roads, the communications, the people, everything."João explains. Music is part of the company, which even has an in-house band and a rehearsal room in the Lisbon building, which is right next to Entrecampos station. "We therefore feel that a piano symbolizes our culture very well."
During these seven months of piano in Entrecampos, many stories have already been told about this social experiment. "Thousands of people pass through Entrecampos every day, people from all walks of life, all backgrounds, all colors, all religions, who use the piano freely"says João. "There are people who clearly arrive there and you can tell it's the first time they've been in front of a piano. There are others who play as if it were a concert hall. There are others who come here to rehearse. So there's a bit of everything."
"And there are incredible stories, like that of a Brazilian boy who plays very well and has now found a job at a music school. He used to come here to play. The piano was his second home. He didn't know anyone in Portugal, so he would come here and play, play, play. And that's how he met a lot of people. He told me that this piano did more for his integration here in the country than anything else"says the director of Critical Software. "I think the piano brings light, and I hope it brings joy to the thousands of people who pass through here."
The piano will be in Entrecampos indefinitely.
