Thursday, February 4, 2010

Licensed Buskers?

At Commercial-Broadway station, I heard the haunting sound of Guantanamera played on the zampona, the Andean pan flute. I hadn't heard that song since it was a major radio hit by the Sandpipers. I was a sentimental teen in a northern town, and little as I understood it, I loved it.

Today the dark-skinned, dark-haired musician was wearing a South American style serape, and that seemed appropriate. I stepped away from the moving river of people heading for the escalator to listen, and to drop a toonie into the open instrument case.

Was he a qualified Olympics busker? Translink has been auditioning them. To play for the Olympics, they have to compete and then pay for their licenses.

Licensing a busker seems wrong. Buskers are artists. Willing to live on the edge for the sake of their art. Willing to have faith that the increasingly jaded commuters will check out the world beyond their ipods long enough to hear the live music of the city's dedicated street musicians.

The first busker I ever heard was in London, at Kensington Tube Station in the early seventies. The soaring voice of that tiny long-haired woman wailing Mary Hopkin's lonely ballad, The Streets of London, is a memory that remains with me still.

Buskers are a special breed. If they want to make music in the train stations, they should be allowed. No quality control necessary, not even for the Olympics.

4 comments:

  1. Hi,

    I am a busker in NYC. Thank you for your excellent words!
    In New York busking falls under the Freedom of Speech right. I wonder if you have that same right in Canada, and if so - buskers could follow the example of American ones and sue the city for their right to express themselves in public spaces.

    All the best,
    Saw Lady
    www.SawLady.com/blog - where I tell what happens when I play in the NYC subway.

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  2. Thanks, Saw Lady,

    I am thrilled a real busker saw my blog. I absolutely agree you have a right to freedom of expression. We all do, and sometimes our politicians forget that.

    Keep on making music,

    Carol

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  3. i am a new Translink buskercommunting from Nanaimo to Vancouver.
    i met that gentleman at Commercial Street station after I finished a show with my brother.He was cool and very friendly.
    It took three trips and six hundred and fifty dolars for my brother and I to get a licence. We had to go to audition, then we had to go to workshop and then we had to go back to get the licence badge.
    After four days, at a few stations we were cold and not really making a lot of money. We got a permit from the Granville-Robson BIA for free. There were hundreds of people and we did way better there than at the stations.
    Buskers had to pay to travel from station to station. i believe that Translink means well but the street was much better.
    Google busking in Nanimo or check out www.bluegambit.com

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  4. We are currently pursuing the Free Speech issue as it pertains to busking in Canada.our court case involves the City Of Nanaimo which has a court injunction in place against buskers.

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