Classy Buskers

Opera buskers

I take my seat between a casually dressed businessman and a strung out looking young woman drinking wine out of a paper cup.  The three opera singers finish a number and are greeted with a warm applause from the audience, even the young woman next to me puts down her wine in order to clap.  I’m not in a concert hall, I’m enjoying lunch and some classically trained musicians who are singing for change on the street.  As the trio begins to sing “Ave Maria” I think to myself, man, these are some classy buskers.



The group I just mentioned is exceptionally talented, but not exactly unique in the city of Santiago, Chile.  Walking in most barrios I’ve seen street musicians singing classical numbers, playing violins, or, in one case, playing a harp—a harp!  Now, in the interest of full disclosure, the man playing the harp was wearing torn clothing and he had a rather scruffy beard, kind of like a fallen angel, but he definitely knew how to play. 



Violin busker in the metro



It’s not just classical music that one hears street musicians creating in Santiago, there are also musicians playing rock, jazz, and more traditional Chilean music, but the ratio of classical music seems unusually high.  Why so classy?  Do people in Chile have more of a proclivity for classical music than in other countries?  Do people part with their change more easily to the sound of Mozart than Bob Dylan?  Is it difficult to get a permit to perform anything but classical music on the street?

Having had difficulty getting in touch with the proper authorities to answer the last question, this writer would like to offer up examples that put the permit theory in reasonable doubt.  Along with the classy buskers previously described, there is another art form, which is quite common in Santiago.  I’d like to term it crosswalk hustling.  In my hometown of Chicago, you might stop your car and have a bum try and wash your windows with a filthy rag in hopes of some spare change.  In Santiago, however, it’s a very different game.  There’s a red light and suddenly a performer, or group of performers, will go out in the middle of the street and do their thing.

I’ve seen people doing strange ball catches and juggling, a one man band who spins around in circles as he loudly plays a number of instruments, and one time, I even saw a group of people make a human pyramid while the captive audience watched (n this case, literally captive as they were waiting for the light to change).  Either during, or directly following the performance, the artist will go from car to car trying to get a little money for their show.  Remember, this whole ordeal takes place in the time it takes for the light to change.  There’s no way that the city is formally allowing these people to perform.  They just get their act together and do a little hustle.

Busker playing the harp

During my university days I’d often considered trying to do some sort of street performance in order to make a little extra cash.  I had a trumpet on which I could play “Three Blind Mice” or I could always try and read some poetry aloud.  Feeling that neither of these would yield much profit from the college community, I instead donated plasma for beer money.  These days, I’m facing a similar crossroads, I need a little extra cash.  I’ve considered breaking out the harmonica or trying to do some sort of performance art project.  From the looks of the competition though, I’m gonna have to class it up a bit.