John Muresianu was diagnosed about 10 years ago with congestive heart failure.
“And my cardiologist said you have to get away from your computer and go for a walk,” he said.
So the Concord resident began a daily ritual of walking in nearby Minuteman National Historical Park.
Walking in the park helps him think, Muresianu said. And he has a lot on his mind. Muresianu was once a history professor. Then he had a career in finance. He launched outlandishly long-shot bids for U.S. Senate and even President in 2024.
Muresianu has always loved learning languages. And he’d see people visiting Minuteman park from all over the world. So on one of those walks years ago, he got the idea to start saying hi to people.
“And at first I thought, ‘No, don’t, they’ll just feel harassed. Forget it. They’ll just reject me and that won’t feel very good.’”
But he decided to give it a try anyway.
“And I say, ‘Hi, where are you from?’” Muresianu remembers asking a woman, who replied she was from France.
“And I didn’t have a plan, but something inside me said, ‘Sing to her the Marseillaise, the French national anthem.’”
So that’s what he did. But as he was singing, he started panicking inside. Would she feel harassed? Would he be banned from the park?
“And I finish and she says, ‘you made my day,’” he remembers with a smile.
The next person he approached was from Mexico.
“So I start singing her Cielito Lindo, which is the de facto Mexican national anthem, and literally what does she say? The exact same words, ‘You made my day.’”
It was a rush, said Muresianu, who describes himself as a “dopamine addict.”
“So I’m hooked,” he said. “I got to keep doing this.”
He started learning songs in other languages, including ones he doesn’t speak. It takes him about three hours to learn a new song, he said. And Minuteman National Historical Park is the perfect place for this unusual hobby.
“We have half a million tourists per year come here from all over the world,” he said. “So it’s — this is total paradise.”
On a recent afternoon walk, Muresianu, who’s now 72, introduced himself to John Hu, who’s from Chengdu, China.
“My favorite Chinese poem is this one. Let me know if you recognize it,” he said, as he launched into a musical rendition of the poem “Quiet Night Thought” by the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai.
Hu grinned broadly, pulled out his phone to start recording, and mouthed the words as Muresianu looked at the sky, arms outstretched, and sang.
“Nice!” Hu exclaimed, clapping as the song ended.
Muresianu walks around this park nearly every day, wearing a fluorescent yellow vest that gives the impression he’s there in some kind of official capacity, even though he’s not. The National Park Service notes that he’s a member of the public and not a formal volunteer.
On this chilly day he sported a hat with fuzzy ear flaps.
“I’m like a Walmart greeter,” he said, approaching another guest in the park. “I greet tourists from around the world in their native tongue with their favorite song, prayer or poem in 46 languages. 8 Asian, 5 African, 4 Middle Eastern, and 20 European. So if for whatever reason you’d like to hear the most beloved song from any country on the planet, pick a country and I’ll sing you the song.”
“Netherlands,” came the request, and Muresianu immediately launched into a spirited rendition of “Lang Zal Zi Leven,” the Dutch version of the “happy birthday” song.
Muresianu says his superpower is breaking down cultural barriers. He can sing in Ukrainian, Sanskrit, and Swahili.
But he doesn’t sing at home.
“One reason I sing to strangers, is my family hates it when I sing,” he said with a laugh. “So this is my outlet.”
Even in the park, it’s something of a gamble.
“We’re gonna keep going, excuse us. Thank you though,” one woman replied after he asked where she was from.
“It kinda hurts when you get this, you know, ‘you’re bothering me’ dirty look and, you know, ‘get away from me,’” he said. “I was lucky in that the first people I approached were receptive.”
A lot of people love it. And that is what keeps him going.
“I believe actually that in our DNA that we are programmed to get our greatest joy from bringing joy to others,” Muresianu said. “I think that’s a biological fact.”
