busking

busking. making music on the streets for money. for some, it is just glorified begging. for buskers themselves, it is an extension of the performing arts, but the street/metro station/square is the stage. all travellers will have done a busking (or other performance not necessarily musical) stint at one time or another, it's inevitable. i started with juggling on the ramblas in barcelona. and then timbe showed me how to make a drum and during the last 5 or 6 years this has been a constant companion on the road. i should move on to doing 'statues' cos this is still quite novel in a lot of places (except barcelona!!) and so it brings some good money in. but hey, you know, it's not just about the money.

how to become a good busker? busking is a mix between an inexact science and a black art. because at the end of the day, it's all about people and the myriad of conscious and unconscious interactions going on all the time. i'm there to bring some music and rhythm into people's lives, to put a smile on their faces. if i saw it as a job, i would have quit a long long time ago. and if the people like what they see or hear, then i'm very happy that they show their appreciation in monetary terms so that i can continue. and when the police move me on, i ask whether they rather i steal from the supermarket. i once had a haircut and a real job - it made me sick.

the perfect pitch? in the big cities and towns there are the pedestrianized streets without the traffic with a good flow of people. it's the first place i look for. hopefully there are no residential flats above the shops. i don't bother to ask the people tending the shops nearby if i can busk in front cos if they did mind, they would come to tell me after a while anyway and i move on without arguing. sometimes the police don't hassle you, but sometimes they do. usually i try to find somewhere else or come back at another time... always with one eye out for them.

the biggest bug bear is competition from other buskers, especially if they've got amplifiers. usually these are 'professional' local buskers, not the travelling kind, who have a different interpretation of busking etiquette and who will have no hesitation to tell you bugger off from 'their' patch. i remember a guy from berlin. george was his name and he played the sax. i asked if we could play together but he refused. he was always there, hogging the prime busking pitch on the bridge going over to the museum insel. one day i decided i was going to put one over on him. i got to the bridge especially early and was there for an hour before he showed up at ten in the morning. i could see he was annoyed. "ok ok let's play together", he insisted. didn't ask it was ok by me. "i'm here first today", i told him. "you will have to wait". "but i am always here at this time, you could have taken my number and called me and we could've arranged something...". "i don't keep a timetable, and this place is for everyone", i replied,"but we can play together and then you can find another place". i could see he was not a happy-chappy but he took his sax out and we played a couple of numbers together. and then he took some money out of the hat and gave it to me. "no no no, you find another place, i was here first." george was a big dude, more intimidating than ever before now that he was getting pretty pissed off. but i stood my ground. in the end he stood across the way from me and started to play. it was a farce. i tried to carry on drumming but it was pointless... this was not music and this was not fun. i let him carry on playing for a while and when he stopped, i told him that he should go and let me have my stint. he carried on playing. george was being a bully and there was nothing i could do. after a while, i got on my borrowed bike and rode off the bridge, incensed. and then i turned back. i rode back and stopped directly opposite him on the bike, an arms length away. i just glared at him as he continued to play and then seeing the sax case with the money inside, i gave it a good kick. and rode off fast! i looked back to see george give chase for a few paces and then give up.

and then there are the gypsies who have kind of made busking their own. usually in pairs or threes, usually doing the terraces... and usually there is an accordian player amongst them. never any hassles with them cos the terraces are not my territory unless i'm busking with someone else. sometimes i ask to play with them and most times they don't mind. last time i was at the museum insel bridge, there was no sign of george, but three gypsy women with accordians at either end of the bridge and one in the middle. with hand gestures and smiles, i asked how long they were gonna be and if we could play together. in the end i got to play one 'number' with one of them and also negotiated a stint of an hour at one end of the bridge! gypsy kids have no inhibitions to come up to me and play my drum. i even had one gypsy boy, aged maybe 8 or 9, come up to me when i was busking in lisbon, look at my drum, play it a bit, and then put the open end to his ear. "you try it", he gestured to me, so i did. wow, it was the sound of the sea, like a conch! never ever occurred to me to try that before.

busking... it's just about tolerated by the system. like hitch-hiking. sooner or later they will try to prohibit these too.