In the short time since we have started The Busking Project, certain street performer conflicts have reappeared. Lisbon, Barcelona and Rome left us with a good sense of these issues, maybe even hyper-sensitised us to them. But in Athens we met Detroit Jimmy, a singing guitarist who is finding solutions to the problems buskers face.
Detroit Jimmy says a tip can come in many forms: a coin in the hat, a smile, a shake of the hand, a word of appreciation, or a dancing child. But the public are also the consumers and retain the right to complain: same old songs, buskers no better than beggars. These reactions could be used as real time feedback: Buskers Be Better! Or it might just be miserable people moaning because that’s what miserable people do.
There can be real problems with local shop owners, whose animosity may be fuelled by a loss of business, potential customers being distracted from the shop’s display. Maybe the shop owners don’t like listening to a limited repertoire of songs, day in day out. Detroit Jimmy has been moved on from shop fronts; he thinks it’s because the owners are jealous of his bag of coins.
But the performer-business relationship doesn’t have to be negative. Jimmy’s developed a relationship with a frozen yoghurt shop (FRO YO) near his favourite pitch. He uses their toilet, fills his water bottle from their tap, and recommends FRO YO frozen yogurt with honey to everyone he meets.
The notion that people will choose between tipping a busker and spending in a shop is ridiculous. In the food and drink industry the opposite must be true – almost every form of entertainment is accompanied by refreshment facilities. So let the busker draw a crowd with his show, and afterwards invite them to eat the best frozen yoghurt in Athens. Sponsored buskers – what a great idea for shop owners. Detroit Jimmy should be on commission!
Street performers may also have problems with other buskers: it could be over prime busking territory, too many performers in a single area, or the natural friction between competing artists. Detroit Jimmy had a disagreement with a pink Mohawk musician over the inconsiderate use of an amplifier – it drowned Jimmy’s vocals. The conflict nearly came to blows and now they pass each other in the street without speaking.
The Mohawk-man is an unfortunate exception; Jimmy is part of a positive busking community. The night we joined him a collection of performers and appreciators had gathered next to Kapnikarea, a small church that splits the pedestrian-street, Ermou. Matt is a club juggler who busks at the traffic lights in front of the Temple of Zeus. He practises triple-spins in the fluorescent glare of the shop fronts. Scott is a fire performer who lives in a van. He unloads his trolley of toys and for a time the street becomes a circus of balance boards, clubs, and bionic legs. Alan, an Estonian, has only been in Athens for a few days but is already adopted into the community. Jimmy and his Scottish accomplice Bob play their guitars, singing pop songs while the friends of the buskers dance.
The street is Jimmy’s office; his fellow buskers his workmates.
One group commonly at odds with busker communities is the police. The cops may be blindly following government policy, or they’re convinced that they’re protecting society from vagabonds and vagrants. There are buskers who deserve to be locked up: the ones who bully, abuse, pester, shout, steal, and con, but not the ones who simply play their music, share their art, or want to entertain a public audience.
In Athens Detroit Jimmy has been stopped from playing by the police, even though he is one of the ‘good buskers’. While we watched him playing in the street, a pack of policemen on motorcycles cruised by. The police-busker relationship is the most difficult thing to change, but if street performers are on good terms with the public, storeowners, and other buskers, the police might look at busking with a more tolerant eye.
Sometimes buskers complain about the miserable public, the selfish shop owners, the enemy buskers, and the heavy-handed police. Maybe these conflicts have become a part of busker identity. Maybe they should alter their attitude or get a “real job”. Maybe they should stay and fight for change and acceptance. Detroit Jimmy with his glasses held together by a safety pin, playing his guitar, and building a busking community, looked pretty happy to me.
Chris