People with talents, an artistic bent of mind, or innate skills do not become famous overnight.Usually there is a period of intense struggle and fruitful public engagement that precedes their eventual stardom.Many of the celebrities started off as buskers; that is, they performed music or other forms of entertainment in the street or a public place for voluntary donations.They include Ed Sheeran, Tracy Chapman, Robin Williams, Passenger, Pierce Brosnan, Sheryl Crow, Rod Stewart, Steve Martin, Janis Joplin, John Butler, Beck, Damien Rice, and BB King.
Buskers usually pop up and perform in a public place so that people who appreciate their performance are moved to give money voluntarily to them. Due to misconceptions, people tend to equate busking with purely subsistence strategies such as panhandling (begging for money, food, or other items) and squeegeeing (washing car windshields for money)associated with homeless people.
Busking is not allowed in Indian cities, where often provisions under laws like the 1959 Bombay (Prevention of Beggary) Act are used to harass street performers. That apart, the British-era Dramatic Performances Act 1876 makes it difficult for anyone to put up a performance in any public space.
It is not surprising that partly due to the advent of radio, TV as well as new media channels and partly due to police highhandedness, traditional Indian street performers have almost vanished from the scene. Walking on tightropes, ‘swallowing’ swords, juggling heavy brass balls, and ‘sawing’ a woman are some of the performances for which Indian street performers were well-known.
It is only in recent years that in India buskers — thanks to the respectability they have attained in advanced countries — are getting their due from the public, though not from the authorities. The Pioneer’s Amartya Smaran looks at the prospects of up-and-coming buskers in India, where certain recent distasteful incidents involving police highhandedness towards buskers have turned the spotlight on the need to bring laws akin to those in advanced countries where busking is legal and highly valued.
The history of busking dates to the Greek, Egyptian, and Roman Empires. In Rome, buskers performing without the approval of the Senate faced death penalty. In the 1530s, Henry VIII made it mandatory for buskers to have a permit to perform in public places. Buskers performing in defiance of rules would either be sent to jail or ruthlessly whipped. In any case, it was never really a cakewalk for buskers to perform.
Today busking is generally allowed in most countries. In the USA, artistes are allowed to busk, though laws relating to it vary from place to place. Even in the UK, busking is mostly allowed, though certain rules and regulations are in place.The artistes there require a licence to perform. The same goes for Australia and Canada. Some countries do not allow busking. For instance, in Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China), buskers may be arrested for ‘authorised charitable behaviour’ in public spaces.
Some cities strategically ensure order in public spaces without restricting busking per se. Vancouver, Canada- regulates the use of amplification, allowing battery-powered amplifiers only for instruments that cannot otherwise be heard, e.g., electric guitars. And performers need to move from a spot every 60 minutes so that they do not disturb people from constant repetition. In New York, USA- artistes have ‘Designated Activity Zones’ where performers are required to stay within specified painted boxes.
Busking remains a great tradition among the Romani people. Likewise, the Mariachis in Mexico continue their age-old tradition of performing on the streets.The tradition of busking is deep-rooted in American culture. It has been used often to bring about a positive change. The great Benjamin Franklin was a busker too; he wrote songs, poetry and often spoke about current events. Tracy Chapman, Mike Doghtyman, Ed Sheeran, Tones and I, and Jewel are some of the famous buskers who made it big in the music industry.
Busking is prevalent in India, though there are no rules governing the practice. This has given authorities room to deal with buskers in a rather aggressive manner.
When Anshul Riaji (Fakira), a product designer by profession and a regular busker at Connaught Place, was asked to stop performing by a policeman; netizens could not keep calm. Anshul started busking four years ago at Connaught Place. He works as a product designer at a company in Noida. After hours, he packs his guitar and starts playing at Connaught Place from 9:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., and reaches home by 12:30 a.m.
“I am a regular busker at Connaught place. You will find me there every single day from 9:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. and I do not turn up only when I fall sick. In Connaught Place, there are these blocks, and that incident took place at the F block. I rarely play at that block and on Dec. 30, 2022, I was performing there. If you notice carefully, in the video, I was playing my guitar with my eyes closed and the police officer walked up to me, shut down my guitar trunk, held on to the instrument, and spoke to me in an inhumane way,” Anshul points out poignantly.
Anshul shared with The Pioneer: “That act hurt my soul. Whenever I sing, I have my eyes closed. I usually go into this deep state of joy and when the cop put me out of that deep state and spoke to me in such a rude manner in front of everyone, it hurt me a lot. That kind of behaviour isn’t acceptable at all.”
Today he is among many buskers who feel that there should be a law that allows busking and proves protection from police highhandedness. Anshul reasons: “There are people who come to Connaught Place just to listen to us. It is a big deal for me when someone comes by to watch me perform. Traditional art forms are collapsing in this technological world and people must support artistes like us because what we create comes from the heart.
Authorities should see to it that a safe environment is created for buskers, and I urge them to support us.”
Some people mistake busking for a form of begging. Differing with them, he explains: “A busker is one who brings out original work through his/her performance. Be it singing, dancing, painting, or reciting poetry, when artistes put out their original work to establish a strong connection with themselves and the people, it’s called ‘busking’. What happens is that people get inspired and learn from us. It is not about singing some Bollywood song and entertaining people; busking is not an event; it is about connection.”
Debojyoti Nath (The Busking Man), founder and teacher at Musart Brigade, started busking in 2014. In 2015, he set out on a journey spanning 29 states and 36 cities in India to spread awareness about the art form. Stressing the need for legal provisions concerning buskers in the country, the performer recalls: “Briefly after I had started out, I tried to meet the local authorities and representatives of government bodies to see if there is a way to push forward something like having policies laid out for street performers. No one was interested at that time. Most western countries have very good policies laid down for buskers.”
Batting for policies to support artistes, the young busker who has performed abroad too, observes: “By buskers, it could mean any art medium like music, dance, drama, and theatre. When I performed at some of the places abroad, I noticed that they have these union bodies set up for buskers. Buskers who are interested go to that union and they audition for them.
The unions deem whether the artistes are worthwhile to put around on the streets. That is how the union then sets them a time and a place that you can be at this position for an hour and then take a break and do it from the next hour. And during the break hour, some other busker comes and plays. Therefore, everything is very regulated from there. If we had something similar in India, something like what Anshul faced would not happen.”
There are many artistes in India who struggle to find a good platform to showcase their talent. In fact, Debojyoti Nath had started performing in the comfort of clubs and bars until he realised how enticing and rewarding it could be to perform on the streets. “Buskers give it their all. People who find something interesting stop and listen to you intently and then choose whether they want to continue listening to you.While playing in the bars, most of the time the attention goes to the crowd themselves.
The personal connection is quite tremendous for an artiste when it comes to busking. It takes a lot from the artiste to be in a place like a street because that is not an easy place to stand. It makes performing quite interesting for an artiste. If people find you interesting, they will stop and listen to you and that is where the connection happens,” shares The Busking Man.
Shriya Gupta founded The Nation’s Rock Beat in 2015. The creative house, based in Hyderabad, helps artistes find their voice by offering them a platform to showcase their skillset.
“I think it was in 2019-’20, that’s probably when we took up the concept of busking and we wanted to make that one of the mainstreams for an NRB. At that point in time, there wasn’t much awareness about busking, and it was very hard for us in terms of getting those opportunities where we could connect with the public,” recounts Shriya.
Recalling a disturbing incident, she says: “We were busking around Tank Bund, and it was early morning around 7:30- 8:00. There were around 20 of us busking and we had gathered quite a good amount of crowd and it so happened that when the police were on patrol, they confiscated our instruments. This incident sort of gives you an idea as to how busking is seen. It is not something that we have a lot of freedom to do, at least when gathering a crowd like that in a public area. I do not think without permission we can do it yet in Hyderabad, which is a huge concern.
We did try to reach out to (TS IT and Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao) KTR sir via Twitter, but I don’t think we have been successful to get his attention. It’s not seen how it’s seen in the west where it is seen as art in a public space and not have the permissions and everything associated with it.”
She to is of the view that buskers are often portrayed in a negative light. “The buskers who’ve gotten visible are seldom portrayed in that light. I think to change this begging misconception, all of us, including the artistes, are individually responsible to make sure that we don’t let that kind of impression go out to the crowd. Even the people who are making reels and videos should make to portray these things in the right light. How the narrative is being written needs to change on all levels.”
Suggesting that the authorities should bring about a change in the way they look at busking, she points out, “I know that there are concerns where we cannot compare it to the West because there is a difference in the culture and mindset. However, the way musicians are treated needs to change. If busking is involved, at least they don’t need to go through something like going to the police station just because they were singing songs in a public area. I think that mindset needs to change with the official bodies, as well as the public.”
Shriya strongly believes handing out licences to artists would help fix the situation in the future. She concludes: “This is something that we are planning to take to the government or someone who can help us out. In India, we need to have a system because we can’t be like the UK or US where there is a mindset difference. We need to accept that. I think that sensibility change isn’t going to come within a year. There should be a licensing body where buskers can get registered and perform at specific spots allotted by the government. This in turn will enrich art and culture and provide a great experience for people who are traveling to the city as well.”
Busking is a harmless act, and it brings nothing but joy to people. Treating these artistes like second-class citizens is shameful, to say the least. All these artistes are trying to bring about a positive change through their art and mean no harm. The authorities must lend an ear to their concerns.
A sincere effort should be made to bring laws that permit and regulate busking in the country. Artistes, whether eminent or up-and-coming buskers,are there to entertain people anytime, anywhere. Most of us turn to theatre, music, and art to seek inspiration. Why look down upon some of artistes, just because they perform without the trappings of stardom?
