London’s Underground needs more buskers
NewsTransport for London has announced auditions for a new batch of buskers to play on the expanded Underground, especially the new Elizabeth Line. Buskers have to hold a licence and there has not been an audition for seven years.
All genres welcome, say TfL.
Justine Simons, Deputy Mayor for Culture, said: ‘I am delighted at the return of TfL’s busking auditions and the introduction of pitches to the Elizabeth line. Busking is a thriving artform across our city and has brought TfL’s stations alive over the last 20 years. This competition provides musicians with a fantastic opportunity to show off their talents, as we build a better London for everyone.’
They may give thanks to Arts Council England for making so many professional musicians unemployed.
But with limited amplification please, I don’t want to be assaulted aurally.
If you can’t make yourself heard in a restricted space with reflective walls, you shouldn’t be in the business.
“A licence to busk” comes across as an oxymoron.
As with so many of the classical music competitions, so often derided on SD, one has to harbour suspicions about the motivations and prejudices of those who judge.
Darwinism will do a much more effective job in keeping the public entertained.
Was going to say plenty of talent around from the music profession and more to come thanks to ACE. So glad I’m out of it all!
Today those people who want to hear music on public transit can do so (and they indeed do so) by wearing earbuds and playing music from their phones. Meanwhile, everyone else who doesn’t want to hear music, doesn’t have to hear music. So why license buskers? Maybe London could learn from some other cities where even the metro can offer an oasis of quiet away from the din of the city.
Yep. When will people finally learn that one person’s music is another’s torture, so why should the latter be subjected to it? I wouldn’t inflict strangers (or friends) with the music I love, unless I knew they liked it too. Our ears are assaulted daily in shops with all manner of ‘musical’ noise that drives me away from the shops. I don’t want to have them assaulted on the Tube either. Also, as Barry commented on volume, I’ve often had to walk past a busker, whilst putting fingers in both ears, the sound was so piercing.
It’s not on the Tube it’s in the entrance to tube stations or at the bottom of escalators and the sound levels are monitored to stop them being too loud. As Norman mentions they all have to audition which means the musicians are usually pretty good not a man banging a tin lid which I once endured.
One of the many pleasures of the Elizabeth Line is that it is currently “Busker Free” I cannot believe that sound levels are “monitored” – by whom? Some are excruciatingly loud.
And why should they be amplifed at all?
Loudspeakers mean ” you have got to listen to me whether you want to or not”.
It’s very sad that the Elizabeth Line is going to be polluted like all the others.
Loudspeakers mean ”you have got to listen to me whether you want to or not”.
Precisely.