International Journal of Community Music - Buskers: Community, Culture, Commodity, Jul 2023

The conditions under which buskers pursue their art have never been easy, but their situation has become even more complicated recently, as public spaces worldwide have been transformed under rampant neo-liberal conditions. Street music today often takes place against the backdrop of globally oriented urban planning, which is frequently shaped by neo-liberal considerations that ascribe specific qualities and functions to public outdoor places and spaces. By subjecting these spaces, which remain central for street music activities even in the digital age, to increasing official control and regulation, street musicians are often exposed to a regulatory frenzy – enacted by local politics and executed by local authorities – that makes it difficult or even impossible for many of them to perform in public in a manner of their choosing. Moreover, under such conditions the creative potential of street music is not allowed to unfold in its breadth and heterogeneity, but only in a limited manner. An analysis of the street art ordinances of the cities of Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck exemplifies the status quo in Austria in this regard and demonstrates how different the political strategies for dealing with street music are in this self-proclaimed country of music. Rather than being seen as a nuisance to be controlled, it is argued that a rich and diverse street music landscape has a significant democratic potential, which would flourish under a more sensitive approach to public spaces on the part of politics and city planning.

While busking can provide entertainment and contribute to community development, it can also stimulate discussions and debates within the community, prompting individuals to reflect on political and social crises. This is the case of post-pandemic Hong Kong, where citizens’ lives are tightly controlled; following a series of social movements, public gatherings have been prohibited due to questionable social distancing measures and the closure of pedestrian zones. This article presents a case study that examines the role of buskers as agents of change through community music engagement. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with three buskers, participant observation and field notes taken during busking events. The findings from the conversation analysis revealed that buskers and citizens’ participation in busking activities helped cultivate their creative expression of ideas, empowering them to transcend the rigid societal structure and unequal power relations between authorities and citizens, enabling social advocacy efforts such as reclaiming lost public space, expanding the community into the online realm, and fostering a cultivated mindset of ‘becoming’ that sustains the possibilities of autonomy within the community.

Who would choose to be a busker and why? How are buskers positioned by, and in relation to, state, commercial and social formations that configure public spaces and public selves? I approach busking through the concept of micropolitics, developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, which argues that life and politics are immanent: inseparable from and coextensive with one another. I take Zygmunt Bauman’s pessimistic vision of ‘liquid modernity’ – a chimeric analysis that maps the coercive and alienating conditions of postmodernism and neo-liberalism – as a fitting backdrop for highlighting the significance of street music. To facilitate this discussion, I draw on memories of my background as a busker, documentary sources and autoethnographic fieldwork conducted in ten locations across regional New South Wales (Australia) between June and August 2022. I adopt a storytelling approach, foregrounding the experience of busking for the busker, and combine this with documentary analysis of regulatory frameworks and quantitative analysis of my busking sessions and earnings in different locations. In contrast to recent studies that applaud the efficacy of regulations, and that represent buskers as rational agents pursuing commercial and artistic interests, I argue that busking, as a way of life, makes little sense except as micropolitical resistance to the alienating conditions of liquid modernity. Moreover, expressions of state, economic and social power frequently manifest contempt for buskers and busking, sometimes to the point of precluding buskers from effectively conducting their livelihoods within the scope of the law. I draw on Macalester Bell’s theorization of contempt as an indispensable ethical position that manifests disregard for its object, to consider the ways in which busking appeals to the humanity of state, commercial and social agents. ‘Ask forgiveness, not permission’ is an idiom of conventional wisdom for buskers, signalling, on the one hand, an internalization of the contempt they are accustomed to receiving from those in a position to facilitate ‘permission’ and, on the other, the ideal that, if things go well, they might inspire human agents to condemn the regulatory pedantry that would proscribe their livelihoods.

This article explores the working relationship between a son–father busking partnership. Fionn is a man in his mid-20s, a violinist and busker, with Down’s Syndrome. His dad, Jonathan, is Fionn’s support and manager. In this article they detail the genesis and nature of their working relationship, the places they have travelled, aspects challenging the busking profession (including economics and technology) and the day-to-day business of busking, as well as the unique role they play in community music and interaction.