Street Musicians Research Articles

SYMBOLISM AND SMIRNENSKI

The article examines the influence of symbolist aesthetics on the poetry of Hristo Smirnenski. The author combines the high stylistics of symbolism with the social theme – this is how the exquisite expression decorates the stories of social outsiders (urban tyrants, soldiers, prostitutes, street musicians). The poet calls them “children of the city” and portrays them in contrast with another type of social character – Homo Faber, the people of production (workers, blacksmiths, stonemasons, charcoal burners). These are the two types of city characters. The first one is called a swashbuckling hero and represents the victim – poor, sick, blind, and hungry, while the second one is the person of struggle – the person of rebellion who is ready to transform the “old world”. One of the greatest strengths of Smirnenski’s poetry is its expression of pathos, which is not only loaded with social density, but also adorned with striking and complex epithets. The fictional universe of this young author is replete with recurring elements of symbolism – nocturnal or mostly evening landscapes, strange topoi, glamorous shop windows, mournful music, fiery looks, etc. Additionally, the works are characterized by the typical of Smirnenski brilliant poetic parody. He parodies everything – politics and politicians, love, human vices, etc. The article also draws attention to the reciting energy of Smirnenski’s poems, which is not generated by the literary qualities of the text, but by the emotion and expectation of the listener – in this case the category of the reader is missing.

The Phenomenon of Bandung Street Musicians: Interaction with Road Users and Legal Aspects

The objective of this study is to investigate the phenomenon of street musicians at Bandung Traffic Lights from the perspective of traffic law and road transportation. The research method employed is a qualitative approach with a specific focus on the interaction between road users and aspects of traffic law and road transportation concerning street musicians at Bandung Traffic Lights. The research methodology includes observations, interviews, documentation, and in-depth analysis. The research findings reveal that the presence of street musicians at Bandung Traffic Lights has a diverse impact on commuters; some find it entertaining, while others feel distracted. From the standpoint of traffic and road transport law, the activities of street musicians on the sidewalk or roadway may be considered violations of Article 275, paragraph (1), and Article 28, paragraph (2), of Law No. 22 of 2009 on Traffic and Road Transport. The implications of this study underscore the significance of arts education in fostering a sense of discipline among street musicians. This research can help ensure that their artistic performances are more focused and orderly without causing disruption to road users.

Strategi Dinas Sosial Kota Makassar Dalam Upaya Penanganan Anak Jalanan

The aim of this research is to gain an understanding of the strategies employed by the Department of Social Affairs in addressing street children in the city of Makassar, including the supporting and inhibiting factors influencing the implementation of these strategies. The research conducted is qualitative and descriptive in nature, utilizing sociological and communication approaches, with observation and interview techniques. Primary data sources include information obtained through direct observation at the research location and interviews, while secondary data is derived from documentation, mass media, and journals.The research findings indicate that the strategies of the Makassar City Social Affairs Department align with Regional Regulation No. 2 of 2008 related to the guidance of street children, homeless individuals, street musicians, and beggars. The department addresses these social issues through data collection activities and providing guidance. However, there are several obstacles in dealing with street children, such as the absence of facilities or rehabilitation centers in Makassar that can accommodate street children for personal development, aiming to reduce the number of street children in the area.

The Profiles and Artistic Experiences of Street Musicians in the Urban Spaces of Montpellier, Sète, and Paris

Abstract The figure of the street musician has long attracted much attention among scholars working in various academic disciplines. This paper attempts to answer the question of who the street musician / artist actually is. While on a scholarship to Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 University in 2013, I conducted a number of surveys and experiments in order better to understand what situations present-day musicians face while playing in the streets and how their social status is changing. Interviews with street performers and their audiences prove to be a valuable source of information. The paper presents the results of my own field research conducted both among street musicians and their audiences, as well as my own personal experience of performing music in public urban spaces in Montpellier, Sète, and Paris

From Grinder to Nipper: Opera, Music Technology and Italian American (Self-)Representation

AbstractIn this article I argue that the longstanding practice of depicting Italian Americans as opera lovers stems from a tradition associating Italian immigrants with mechanical music devices. As a growing number of Italian unskilled labourers entered the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century, they were stereotyped as street musicians, and especially as organ grinders, in mainstream popular culture. Beginning in the 1900s, recording manufacturers strove to make home phonographs appealing to the middle class by breaking the chain of mechanical, social and racial associations that connected the phonograph with earlier musical devices such as the barrel organ, and with those who played them. Because of the prominent marketing role that record labels assigned to Italian opera, this commercial strategy had important consequences for the genre as well as for Italian immigrants, who leveraged opera's renewed visibility and audibility into an effective vessel for social and political empowerment.

‘If you play some good music, people immediately understand it’: Audience response to busking

Busking is part of the daily urban life of citizens worldwide. Every street music performance can affect buskers or passers-by in different ways because the people, the conditions, the terms and the reasons for music-making is unique every single time. This article aims to deliver social insights from the Greek busking community of Thessaloniki. Specifically, we examine the relationship between street musicians and their audience, according to their attitudes and practices during a street performance. For this study, a mix-methods approach was followed where quantitative and qualitative data was collected from 146 participants (82 were members of the audience and 64 were buskers). Our methodology relied on semi-structured interviews to collect buskers’ and audiences’ views on their experiences, as well as field notes and observation to document their relationship and reactions first-hand. The main findings indicate that buskers and audiences sustain a healthy relationship between them while buskers are thankful for the audience’s reaction to their performance and tend to make a series of performative choices, according to audience preferences. Furthermore, all audience members actively approve of the existence of street music and show their appreciation of being part of this community, by donating money and participating through various ways (singing, dancing, taking photos).

Busking in the neo-liberal city: A critical inventory of a selection of street art ordinances in Austria

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.

Editorial

This editorial problematizes the place of street musicians in community spaces and the ways in which articles in this Special Issue address the cultural, social and political forces affecting their artistry and well-being. It also considers the role of audiences and regulatory regimes as stakeholders in the creation of street music cultures in the community.

This City Needs Street Music: Practices, Experiences, and Meanings in the Busking Scene of Hong Kong

ABSTRACT Based on an ethnographic study of the Hong Kong busking scene, this article explores how buskers navigate and negotiate their practices and experiences in the scene. Within the contested socio-political and institutional context in Hong Kong, buskers’ collective efforts have brought the promise of street music to life by bringing people together and fostering a sense of belonging, connection, and solidarity with their music. The statement, “This city needs street music,” not only captures street musicians’ deep conviction in the significance of their practice, but also calls for a wider recognition of the value of street music.

South Africa’s National Arts Festival (review)

Reviewed by: South Africa’s National Arts Festival Bryan W. Schmidt SOUTH AFRICA’S NATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL. Various venues, Makhanda, South Africa. June 23–July 3, 2022. South Africa’s National Arts Festival (NAF) built its reputation on being a platform for vital social critique, a major draw for the Eastern Cape economy, and also a kuierfees—a social festival with an immersive, artsy atmosphere. After being forced to move online for two straight years, the 2022 live festival was held in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) to rousing critical accolade—but with markedly lower attendance than pre-COVID times. Art of all disciplines was still on offer in the many venues scattered around Rhodes University, the 1820 Settlers National Monument, and the central business district, but there was a palpable decline in the bustling street life that animated years past. High Street and Church Square usually brim with pop-up marketplaces, buskers, street musicians, parades, and local children performing as mimes. This year, the few street performers present seemed confined to the NAF’s curated marketplace, the Village Green, and most of the informal vendors who make a living by following the crowds left town after just a few days. The successful pivot to digital over the last two years has given the NAF nimbleness to cope with changing times (and some virtual programming remained available in 2022), but rebuilding the live event’s vibe remains a considerable challenge. Continued caution around COVID was partially to blame for the turnout, but other factors like rapid inflation, gas price hikes, nationwide power outages, and competition from other regional arts festivals likely discouraged many from investing in the trip to Makhanda. But the NAF’s curated program still featured top-caliber work with stellar production values, and the fringe maintained a particularly robust showing from student groups and emerging professionals in the Eastern Cape, the Free State, and KwaZulu-Natal. For a festival that has made significant efforts in recent years to shed its image as an event held for a wealthy artistic establishment that skews disproportionally white, it was encouraging to see that enthusiasm for performing on a national stage continued to have a pull for Black African artists, especially those from rural areas. Click for larger view View full resolution Andrew Buckland, Tshiamo Moretlwe, Siyamthanda Sinani, Mongi Mtombeni, Roshina Ratnam, Beviol Swartz (l-r) in Hamlet. Photo: Alan Eason. Thando Doni, this year’s winner of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Drama, made the bold choice to stage his sponsored production Ngqawuse (The Death of a Nation) almost entirely in isiXhosa. Although this is the dominant language in Makhanda (and many fringe shows were also staged in artists’ vernaculars), the little English provided was somewhat uncommon for a featured work in the curated program. The language choice made a powerful claim within the space of Rhodes University, reinforcing the play’s pointed investigation of knowledge and epistemology as durable vectors of British domination. In recalling one of the Eastern Cape’s most tragic encounters with colonial power, Ngqawuse contended that contemporary social struggles in South Africa must be located within its history. It discusses events from 1856–1857, when Xhosa communities responded desperately to British violence by slaughtering their own cattle in fulfillment of a [End Page 81] millenarian prophecy, leading to mass starvation, and hastening their subjugation. Over 150 years later, Doni showed how the psychic wounds stemming from these events continue to haunt contemporary social life. Like in Zakes Mda’s novel The Heart of Redness, which also examined the cattle killings, Doni created a porous relationship between the past and present. He juxtaposed to the 19th century history of the prophet-ess Ngqawuse (Chuma Sopotela) a contemporary love story between a young man and woman that unfolded from youthful exuberance to tragic ruin. The minimal set featured a dusty, leaf-strewn floor evocative of the Eastern Cape landscape, where both stories could unfold simultaneously through crafty visual composition. Crucially, Doni’s staging self-consciously avoided leading the audience to place blame on Ngqawuse for the slaughter she urged, nor on Xhosa people still grappling with psychic trauma and generational destitution stemming thereof. Doni rendered both...

SONGS FROM BERTOLT BRECHT’S THE THREEPENNY OPERA: FUNCTIONING WITHIN THE DRAMATIC TEXT AND BEYOND IT

The history of Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera ("Die Dreigroschenoper", 1928) reception has been used to analyze the literary and musical genre of song, its specificity for the German cultural space of the time, attachment to the new American and long-standing German song tradition, its dependence on the manner of performance, voice performability, gesture character and aesthetic requirements of epic theatre. Based on the theoretical considerations of the German playwright and his own experience of performing, songs are viewed both as an element of "play with music" with an emphasis on their innovative functioning within the text and as independent art phenomena which played an essential role in popularizing The Threepenny Opera in general and its specific ideas and ways of their implementation in particular. A significant characteristic of Brecht's songs has been highlighted – their focus on impacting the public, which resulted in their great popularity. In this respect, a connection with the aesthetic experience of street musicians should be mentioned as the founding element in the aesthetics of Brecht's songs, with an accent on the link with jazz as a popular performative art; on the importance of the voice of performer, which was supposed to reflect interactions with the author, character, and composer; on the masterful music created by Kurt Weill for the songs. A new link between text and music, defined by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill as "gestic music", has been characterized. A claim is made that songs like texts designed for singing, where the form and language are aimed at making an impact on the listener, which serve as an attraction in the general performance, work successfully due to relevance, ballad nature, cognizability, repetition, external simplicity and even banality, aphoristic nature, satiricalness, indexicality and performability of the ideas they contain. Analysis of the most popular songs ("Mack the Knife", "Pirate Jenny") involves ideas of the philosophers Theodor W. Adorno and Ernst Bloch.

Irish Music or Pure Laine? The (Un)Quiet Revolution of Ti-Jean Carignan

Honoured as “the greatest fiddler in North America” when he was welcomed into the Order of Canada in 1974, Jean Carignan was a gifted and controversial figure in Francophone Québec – where his music was accepted and rejected in his own lifetime. A street musician who grew up in a poor family, Carignan rose to become one of the most celebrated virtuosos of traditional fiddling in the world, drawing his repertoire and style from Québécois, Irish and Scottish masters Joseph Allard, Michael Coleman and James Scott Skinner, as well as a host of classical violinists. He was the face of Canadian fiddling in North America and in Western Europe during the middle decades of the 20th century. Yet, by the time he died in 1988, he had become a fiddling bête noire ruffling the campaign to create a sovereignist Québec with its own pure laine culture. This article examines Carignan’s “trilingual” soundscape and the maverick “third space” he occupied in the changing zeitgeist of Québécois lifeworlds in the 1970s.

Books Briefly

Books Briefly

A street music festival: Informal learning perspectives

Community music forges relationships and interactions between people and the location they live. Previous research into community music and learning demonstrate that these social interactions can in turn lead to informal life-long learning. This article reports on learning perspectives of festival participants and organizers, of the HONK! Oz Street Music Festival. The data revealed that many participants noted an increase in their understanding and ability to improvise, play tunes in genres outside of their previous experience and play their instruments more freely due to the nature of mobile street music. Specifically, they talked about how the pre-festival workshops, which were an innovative feature of these festivals, helped them to meet and interact with other musicians at the festival and helped them to improve their understanding of how to play street music.

An acceptance speech.

An acceptance speech.

After the Dance, the Drums Are Heavy: Carnival, Politics, and Musical Engagement in Haiti

After the Dance, the Drums Are Heavy: Carnival, Politics, and Musical Engagement in Haiti

The Artistic Work of Street Musicians in Barcelona and Rio De Janeiro: Interstices of Work and Leisure

This paper explores the social practice of musicians who play in the streets and public spaces of Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona. We investigated the appropriation of these social spaces, the commodification of art on the streets, and the work/leisure relationship in the daily lives of these artists. Ethnographic methods were used for 24 months and included observations and interviews with 23 street musicians in these two cities. The interviewed musicians develop strategies aimed at meeting the need to survive from their art. The work/leisure relation is configured strangely in the social practice of these subjects and differently in the two cities. Nevertheless, the time/social space in which work and leisure are materialized in the daily life of the researched street musicians is directly related to the possible overlapping of one realm over the other.

Are we there yet? An analysis of visitor attitudes towards sustainability awareness raising initiatives

Abstract Sustainable practices aiming to reduce environmental impacts have become key guiding principles of events, but initiatives focusing on the economic impacts and on supporting the local economy and society are also gaining more emphasis in event planning and management. Music festivals attracting larger audiences are becoming especially aware of the importance of sustainability as well as of their role in the process of raising participants’ awareness of it. The paper aims to assess the initiatives of the Street Music Festival in Veszprém, Hungary, one of the flagship events of the city, from both the participants’ and the organisers’ perspective. For the investigation of participant attitudes, a questionnaire survey was conducted, while the organisers’ views on sustainability were sought through interviews. The findings show that although respondents rate the importance of sustainability as very high, their contribution to responsible consumption is far from what could be considered sustainable, therefore better communication of the initiatives or stricter rules need to be introduced. The interviewees revealed that organisers consider economic sustainability just as important as the environmental issues, and gave an insight into the rationale behind sustainability enhancing initiatives, some of which have a marketing function as well as protecting the environment.

Attitudes and Behaviors toward Street Musicians in Live Performances

Attitudes and Behaviors toward Street Musicians in Live Performances

Resonances of Chindon-ya, Sounding Space and Sociality in Contemporary Japan by Marié Abe

Reviewed by: Resonances of Chindon-ya, Sounding Space and Sociality in Contemporary Japan by Marié Abe Bruno Deschênes (bio) Resonances of Chindon-ya, Sounding Space and Sociality in Contemporary Japan. Marié Abe. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2018. xxv + 252 pp., 8 pages of plates, b&w photographs, appendix, bibliography, index. ISBN: 9780819577788 (hardcover), $85.00; ISBN: 9780819577795 (paperback), $27.95; ISBN: 9780819577801 (e-book), $22.99. Companion website: http://www.ResonancesOfChindon-ya.com. During Japan's Edo period (1603–1868), Edo city (today's Tokyo) was a major center for entertainment, alongside Osaka and Kyoto. Among the many forms of entertainment found mainly in and around the pleasure quarters were those that relied on a large number of street performers (see Groemer 2016). When Japan took the path to modernization in the second half of the nineteenth century, a majority of these street-performing troupes disappeared. Although a few still exist today, the most prominent genre is one that became popular after World War II, called chindon-ya. Marié Abe, in this most enlightening book, recounts how this form of street performance adapted itself to twentieth-century modernity, becoming a modern redefinition of Japanese street sounds and entertainment. The primary argument of Abe's book shows how the practice of chindon-ya is built on a close interrelation between sound, history, and "sociality" in defining street and neighborhood environments as "dynamic space produced through social relations, practices and imaginaries" (xxii). Space, time, and social and musical sounds become a form of embodied and affective resonance, which Abe defines by using the Japanese term hibiki (resonance, but not just in an acoustical sense) (xxiii). Chindon-ya adapted its characteristics while keeping a nostalgic foot in the past. In her introduction, Abe gives us a view of her key arguments and provides an overview of the sounds and history of chindon-ya. The syllable chin is the onomatopoetic word for the sound of a small, flat gong chime, and don the sound of the drum. As for ya, it refers to business, in this case a business that "makes sounds." At the beginning of the twentieth century, street musicians were using the shamisen (the three-stringed Japanese lute) as a melodic instrument. Because of the increasing noise of the new urban environment, the [End Page 153] shamisen became almost inaudible. The use of louder brass-and-reed Western instruments proved to be better suited to hearing among and over the incessant street noises. These augment the core percussion instruments, most of which are of Japanese origin, but in particular the kane, the distinctive highpitched small gong that can be heard from afar and that announces to the neighborhood that a troupe is nearby. Chindon-ya's primary function has always been to serve as an advertisement for local businesses, with players distributing pamphlets or publicity sheets to passersby. Troupes perform a wide range of music, including military marches, old popular songs, tunes from traditional comic vaudeville, theme songs from children's TV programs, contemporary J-pop tunes, and some known songs from the West. Other than their standard introduction, few tunes are exclusive to them. Their advertising practice includes speech and theatrical performance, with a mellifluous style of delivery coming from popular theater. In addition, extravagant costumes and makeup, both traditional and modern, are part of the image of chindonya, although some musicians might also dress casually. The chindon-ya style of today, as well as the term itself, appeared in the 1930s. The origin can be traced back to sometime around 1845, while the use of sound for self-advertisement can be traced back at least to the twelfth century. Up until the 1930s, these street entertainments had different names and formats, but after World War II chindon-ya really took off. There were well over 2,000 chindon-ya performers across the country in the reconstruction period of the early 1950s. Toward the end of the 1990s there was a modest resurgence, with about 30 troupes existing today. Abe indicates that chindon-ya shows numerous ambiguities. It is a marginal activity, viewed by many as out of place, especially from a modern-world viewpoint. It is both a...