Does anybody here busk?

[JeffJetton]

I do have to admit that I've been to Paris a number of times and somehow there seems to be a lack of traditional accordion music heard there. Unfortunately you hear poorly played accordion music by people essentially begging for money. My fantasy would be to pick a small square there, perhaps in the Latin Quarter, nestled between a few small restaurants and just play a few tunes because this would add to the ambiance and make my trip complete. However the experience would be sufficient without the need to earn any money.

I've also suspected that some (not all, but many) of the busking accordion players I've seen in Europe are essentially deluxe panhandlers, who only know a few simple tunes--one is always "Never on a Sunday" for some reason--and play them over and over and over.

But I once tipped one in Graz, Austria and after chatting with him for a bit, he let me "take over" for a few tunes. So I did briefly get to busk and hopefully add to the ambience of a charming old European town. It was a trip highlight!

 

[jozz]

One by one each European country also moves to a permit based system.

Ten years ago you would see an 'accordion gipsy', at every supermarket entrance in the Netherlands. Now nowhere to be seen.

Similar move was made in Graz in 2012.

 

[debra]

One by one each European country also moves to a permit based system.

Ten years ago you would see an 'accordion gipsy', at every supermarket entrance in the Netherlands. Now nowhere to be seen.

Similar move was made in Graz in 2012.

I consider that a good move. Most of these buskers were east-european with terrible accordions, and knowing either just one song or just a few songs.
But... in places where people study music you can actually enjoy really good students playing virtuoso pieces either on the street or in railway stations. Utrecht for instance is a good place (in the summer) for enjoying professional quality playing (on very expensive instruments too).

 

[donn]

And then there's your own front porch. One of my neighbors used to occasionally bring his accordion out and play. For no one in particular - it isn't a high traffic location, but maybe his neighbors were home, and occasionally someone might pass by.

 

[Valski]

I consider that a good move. Most of these buskers were east-european with terrible accordions, and knowing either just one song or just a few songs.
But... in places where people study music you can actually enjoy really good students playing virtuoso pieces either on the street or in railway stations. Utrecht for instance is a good place (in the summer) for enjoying professional quality playing (on very expensive instruments too).

"Eastern Europeans" also study music and are virtuoso musicians so the generalization isn't fair. I agree that there are a lot of people playing decrepit instruments poorly and you see them in the popular tourist sites and in general they give other accordion players a bad name, this phenomenon is not based on a person's ethnicity. I merely pointed out that places like Paris seemed to have very few good accordionists playing the music that parisiens are famous for. Some places hire students to do this and I had seen some in Lisbon who were doing exactly that.

 

[Ffingers]

I consider that a good move. Most of these buskers were east-european with terrible accordions, and knowing either just one song or just a few songs.
But... in places where people study music you can actually enjoy really good students playing virtuoso pieces either on the street or in railway stations. Utrecht for instance is a good place (in the summer) for enjoying professional quality playing (on very expensive instruments too).

Good and bad everywhere, eh?!





Generalisations are always a bit "iffy", as we say down here

 

[losthobos]

There's an Eastern European 'beggar' who sometimes plays a battered broken toothed box outside McDonalds in my town...
He knows just 5 simple tunes he plays in rotation, must have played them all his life...merely ditties but played with great embellishments and gusto....I know ten times his material and have a greater understanding of harmony but feel his passion puts me back in my box..
Sometimes I share my lunch with him and drop him a tip and we chat in broken English...nice guy ...I'd never subject him to a McDonald's happy meal though ..
Poverty's not a crime....

 

[debra]

"Eastern Europeans" also study music and are virtuoso musicians so the generalization isn't fair. I agree that there are a lot of people playing decrepit instruments poorly and you see them in the popular tourist sites and in general they give other accordion players a bad name, this phenomenon is not based on a person's ethnicity. I merely pointed out that places like Paris seemed to have very few good accordionists playing the music that parisiens are famous for. Some places hire students to do this and I had seen some in Lisbon who were doing exactly that.

I have also seen virtuoso Eastern European accordion/bayan players busking. Some great bayan players for instance in Dublin and in Rome. There are great accordion players from all over the world. However, the *only* rubbish buskers I have seen have been from Eastern Europe, most likely from Balkan countries. No disrespect based on ethnicity was intended by my post.

 

[debra]

And then there's your own front porch. One of my neighbors used to occasionally bring his accordion out and play. For no one in particular - it isn't a high traffic location, but maybe his neighbors were home, and occasionally someone might pass by.

That might get you in trouble around here, because when you play music that can be heard publicly and that is still under copyright you might get a fine for unauthorized playing of copyrighted music... But of course when you just play baroque or classical music (from before around 1900) you are safe.

 

[Ffingers]

I have also seen virtuoso Eastern European accordion/bayan players busking. Some great bayan players for instance in Dublin and in Rome. There are great accordion players from all over the world. However, the *only* rubbish buskers I have seen have been from Eastern Europe, most likely from Balkan countries. No disrespect based on ethnicity was intended by my post.

That could be because the average "rubbish" busker does not play accordion, but tortures guitars and sobs into microphones about how the whole world is against them.
On the other hand, we, in Perth, Western Australia, once had a street performer whose renditions of blues and ragtime on the old upright piano that was rolled out for him were much acclaimed and whose passing is sadly mourned.

John Gill — Museum of Perth

www.museumofperth.com.au

Tells the tale.

 

[Dingo40]

And then there's these guys, even with a badly out of tune piano():...

And, of course...Ladva*:

*Ladyva, is a Swiss musician, boogie woogie, blues and jazz pianist, singer and composer. Wikipedia

 

[Tom]

And then there's your own front porch. One of my neighbors used to occasionally bring his accordion out and play. For no one in particular - it isn't a high traffic location, but maybe his neighbors were home, and occasionally someone might pass by.

I've been known to do this! My driveway faces the lake in a "tourist trap" region so annually we have a neighborhood and old car parade or two, as well as organized bike rides and "art crawls." I sit out on the driveway and play for the passers by. It's pretty fun. This year I'm gonna try joining the parade, playing in the back of my friend's truck. I've never busked here, but have played in a park. I think it's disappointing that the beggars give a bad name to the "legitimate" buskers, especially those super loud 5 gallon bucket drummers.....

 

[losthobos]

@Dingo40 ....here's same dude Brendan K on accordion...sure I've posted before ..

 

[Longshore]

For what it's worth, I do occasionally busk (in holiday locations), and I have found that character, humour and just being approachable is worth far more than 'musical ability'.
Being able to guage the mood of the passing people and interact with them musically seems to pay dividends (for me at least).
I only really play my own simple compositions and often go off on tangents and flights of fancy.
Seems to work though, although I'm sure 'real accordionists' will sneer at the very thought of it...