Lifestyle Talks to “Ronaldinho”
Everybody knows them, everybody sees them, the street artists on La Rambla , the most famous street of Barcelona, are popular to everyone. But who are they in reality behind all the masks, make up and costumes? LifestyleDMC decided to hit the streets of Barcelona and find out more about these legendary artists. One artist in particular caught our interest right away, playing with a ball, dressed up as Ronaldinho and surrounded by a huge audience…
Andreas da Silva (31) was born and raised in the Favelas of Sao Paulo in Brazil. Favelas are the famous shantytowns of Brazil, settlements where millions of people live within the unequal distribution of wealth in the country. When he was a child he already had a love for football and the famous football player Ronaldinho – Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, born in Brazil as well, became his role model. While Ronaldinho played for FC Barcelona he was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 2004. Andreas football skills began to blossom at a young age and Ronaldinho became a true inspiration who turned Andreas into the artist he is right now.
Six years ago Andreas decided to leave the Favelas and was eager to explore the world. He started his journey in Barcelona and studied here for a couple of years. With his talent for football he had the opportunity to enrich his life and combine his passion for football and traveling. This is how Ronaldinho, the smiling King of la Rambla, came to be. Since living in Barcelona Andreas has traveled to New York, Tokyo, Italy and even performed on Dam square in Amsterdam for 3 months. However La Rambla remains his favorite performing spot and he continually returns to his beloved BARCELONA and performs there each day. His parents still live in Sao Paulo, however his 3 siblings are spread all over Europe. Nowadays he still lives in Barcelona together with his 3 adopted children from Brazil and works as a professor, teaching theater. We were quite surprised to hear about his double life as a street artist and a professor. We wish we were taught by a professor who dressed up as Ronaldinho in our University – how entertaining our classes would have been!
In the mean time… a small audience had started to grow again, on the already busy La Rambla, and he gave a stunning performance to entertain them. It was great to see that everybody was appreciating his talent and rewarded him. When we asked him the question where most of you are probably curious about, he answered that being a street artist earns ‘quite good’. But we didn’t expect to hear any different, since Andreas is not just a street artist, but a talented master of football with a prime spot on La Rambla; Right at the beginning of the street, near Plaza Catalunya is where The Smiling King of La Rambla steps up on his throne each day.
Andreas performs 5 hours per day, no matter what season whether it rains or not he can always be found on the same spot. When it is raining he performs with an umbrella in his hand and while standing on a staircase he balances the ball – making it looks like a piece of cake!
When asking him if he ever wants to change his outfit or ever had before, he was very clear; NO! And he showed us the tattoo written on his chest; Ronaldinho de La Rambla. He still is a big fan and always will be. His performance is incredibly popular; everybody is familiar with the admired football player, everybody wants to have pictures with him and above all Andreas has some amazing fancy footwork!
We feel very privileged to have our very own Ronaldinho and to have the honor to proudly announce another reason to visit Beautiful Barcelona!!