barcelona and busking

ever since the cities fathers decided that they wanted to 'clean up' the city of 'undesirable' activites such as squatting and street busking, barcelona has become a hard place to survive for travelling buskers. i cut my busking teeth here on the ramblas that year i first came to spain, and then it was with three small juggling balls that i had patched up. i didn't make much - even the beggar with the twisted limbs and back took pity on me and chucked some pesetas into my hat - but it was the impetus i needed to pull myself out of the huge hole of self-pity and depression i had dug for myself. from there, i befriended the street artists (one in particular, neus) and made contact with some travellers and led them back to the isla... before the overland trip to india. but all in good time.
barcelona and busking. now it's totally forbidden to drum on the streets, even for fun in the park, or to make fire juggling. some years ago, the town hall set up an association of street musicians. you had to register yourself with them and you got permission to play on the streets and in certain places at metro stations. except, of course, drummers were excluded from this elite group. i got myself registered anyway, and when the nice lady asked me what instrument i played, i told her i had a 'pitdesa'. pitdesa? it's catalan for 'pita de sat' of course. she wrote it down as i spelt it for her! i never bothered with the lottery of booking time-slots... i just turned up at the metro sites and if it was free, i played my rhythms. if not, onto the next place. i didn't dare to play on the streets, even though i had the permisso, i heard the police would just confiscate drums no questions asked...
nowadays, the association is still going strong and i tried to re-register a few years ago... except that they required the musicians to undergo an audition. with my drum...? not likely! but no worries. i still play at the metro spots and in all the years i've been busking at these places, i only ever got asked for my permisso twice. and the second time, the security guys didn't even bother to look at it.


last days, it's been pretty hard busking. not so much dosh. i met another musico de la calle, one argentinian guy called juan with acoustic guitar, and he agreed to play together. at the end of an hour or so playing, we made a measly seven and half euros. 'last year was better', he said. 'ahh yes, la crisis economica', i nodded in affirmation.
yesterday in the morning, i was forced to play on the seaside promenade cos the spot at cuitadella metro was taken. better to be playing outside in the sun, but less money and always an eye out for the pigs... and there's lots of them here too. la guardia urbana, la poliçia local, los mossos d'esquadras (catalan pigs), and rarely, la guardia civil (national police). and only 3 euros in about two hours.


later that evening, the cuitadella spot was free and the resonance in the subway tunnels makes the drum sounds literally pulsate through your whole being... and later at paral.lel metro, in all, about 3 to 4 hours and 18 euros. it's nowhere near fantastic, but for spain, it's what i normally average. solo drumming doesn't really capture people's hearts as much as some catchy tunes on a guitar, but the fate was such that i wasn't born to be a singer but a percussionist.