Introduction to ED-BKA - Edmonton Buskers Anonymous

Edmonton, Alberta, offers a wide variety of culturally stimulating experiences; including the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival, Fringe Festival, and Nextfest. In each of these festivals, each individual performer must engage the gaze and enjoyment of the viewer in order to request reciprocation of gratuitous payment. The City of Edmonton sponsors many of these festivals that support local and international performing artists for thousands of people from around the world to come enjoy.

With ED-BKA, we are interested in just that - performances by buskers who depend solely on the public's generosity to make a living. These performers are not limited to public festivals that support this group of performers, but can be witnessed year-round throughout many major cities. In Edmonton, colder seasons restrict buskers to underground pedways in Edmonton's Light Rail Transit (LRT) stations.

What makes the public respond to these sets of performers different? Attending a street performers festival versus witnessing a local performer in a downtown pedway results in different reactions from the public. We are here to investigate the public reception of buskers in Edmonton's downtown pedway system, specifically Churchill station.

Thesis:

Buskers are a visual phenomenon observed frequently at Edmonton LRT stations; specifically the Churchill station near Edmonton City Center based as the subject of our study. Audience reception of buskers is influenced by factors of context, connotative meanings, and ideologies, which establishes buskers as low culture and bad taste. The investigation of Buskers to support or refute our hypothesis will be documented via both video and pictures.


Evaluation of “High” and “Low Culture” Busking

To evaluate the reception of buskers by the audience as “high” or “low culture”, positive and negative responses should be established. The Edmonton International Fringe Festival is an invitation for buskers world wide to participate in providing charitable entertainment to local and tourist groups. The viewers reserve hours of free time to witness busker performances (Red-Bordered Video). In this context, the buskers are presented with a sense of professionalism; scheduled artists with the goal of providing entertainment, evident in their flawless performances and outstanding costumes. The viewer at the Fringe or other street festivals participates in intentional viewing as a willing viewer waiting to receive, critique, and admire. Thus, the big difference with the Fringe viewer and the viewer received in Edmonton’s underground LRT pedways is that of a willing versus forced viewer, respectively. The viewer in the LRT pedways do not choose to participate in observing the busker performances, but rather coincidentally happen to cross paths.

Buskers in the Edmonton LRT pedway are viewed as “low culture”, due in part to the forced viewer, context, and presentation of the buskers. The Edmonton International Fringe Festival would constitute buskers as a diverse cultural experience, representative of a “higher” culture than “lower culture” LRT busker performances. Support for these statements is evident in the differentiation of positive and negative reactions to busker performances. In The Edmonton International Fringe Festival, people respond positively by stopping to listen, sitting throughout an entire performance, applauding, smiling, dancing, and tipping. On the contrast, a greater proportion of disinterested to negative responses result from the viewers of LRT buskers. These include no reactions, lack of acknowledgement or glances, looking away. In the context of the LRT buskers, audiences are more likely to respond positively by stopping their conversations, quieting their volume of speech, looking at the busker, walking slower, or commenting positively (Green-Bordered Video).

Position, Attitudes, and Beliefs

Buskers and their art-form can be interpreted in many diverse ways: some people may consider it as an under-represented genre of music while others relate it to mere panhandling. During our observations at the various Edmonton LRT stations, the former viewpoint was more commonly observed. Nevertheless, by observing viewers position before, during and after listening to the busker, one can notice that there was a variety of responses which are both engaging and alienating.

Similar to that of elevator music, most patrons would simply disregard the presence of the busker performance upon their approach; majority of viewers neither avoid nor approach the buskers but simply ignore them as if they are absent. This behavior, by the viewer, is also consistent during and after they pass the busker. However, similar to how some people actively listen to and appreciate elevator music, there are individuals who also actively respond to buskers. The variety of responses depicts the apparent yet different social status for those who interact with the buskers. Usually those with children, those dressed casually, and the elderly who would turn their attention towards the performers (Green-Bordered Video). On the other hand, most people who were professionally dressed seemed to completely ignore the buskers (Orange-Bordered Video). The majority of both these groups did not consciously alter their walking path in response to the presence of the busker: they were neither captivated nor disgusted. In addition to these observations, the flow of the viewers religiously followed the North American traffic directions. These pedestrians always walk on the right side of the corridor (Blue-Bordered Video).














Edmonton LRT Buskers - "High" or "Low Culture"

The few audience members that gave gratuities to the LRT buskers did it as a passing motion. Of those who gave change, the professionally dressed viewers did not seem to particularly appreciate their performance but donated in similar fashion to that of a panhandler: they were quick, did not engage in conversation, and tended to avoid eye contact with the busker. It appeared as if the professionals did not want to taint their portrayed “high culture” by associating with the apparent “low culture” of the busker. However, those who gave money that were dressed casually or part of the elderly populous acted more positively to the busker’s performance. This was presented in eye contact and may be furthermore accompanied by a fleeting smile. On very rare occasions, few of these donating viewers will actually engage in conversation with the busker (Red-Bordered Video). Likewise, it appears that individuals, juxtaposed with groups of people, are more likely to give change to the buskers. These people fear the embarrassment and the prospect of being ridiculed by their fellow co-workers, friends or acquaintances in associating with a “low” form of culture. Consequently, people in groups will usually respond in groups. Someone who encourages listening will cause the group to respond similarly with positive responses. On the other hand, someone who discourages listening will cause the group they are in to establish buskers as "low culture", exemplified by negative responses. This "low culture" is associated with the bad taste identified by individuals of "high culture"(Sturken and Cartwright 2009).

The Gaze

The Unconscious Gaze

Practices of looking and spectatorship are not one-way streams; it is not merely just a viewer observing the busker, but involves dynamic interactions between the viewer-busker and vice versa. These multi-dimensional interactions are vital to the busker “industry” in modernity (Mason 1996). By understanding the concept of the gaze we can investigate the role of the viewer’s activeness (unconsciousness, desire, curiosity) in looking and how looking can mold both the busker and the viewer. Underneath the umbrella of unconscious are concepts of race, gender and age that participate in the act of relational looking. From our observations of the flute-player in the Churchill LRT station at approximately 11AM not many viewers stopped to appreciate the sweet sounds of the flute, but of the ones that did was a male parent with his child. This highlights the variation and importance of each individual’s unconsciousness and desire in determining the type of interaction they have with the busker. An infant/child’s ego is observed to be separate from the world as described by Jacques Lacan (Sturken and Cartwright 2009). Due to this, the infant sees the world as the other and is interested in the “other”.

One study of Jan McCrary from the Western Michigan University investigated the influence of the viewers and performers race on the viewer’s music preference. The study highlights the degree to which the subconscious/unconscious influence of race affects how one interacts with the performer (McCrary 1993). She observes that the “white” person on average has greater flexibility towards different ethnic performers (McCrary 1993). On the contrary, black observers appear to prefer music from their own race (McCrary 1993). In our observations of white buskers/performers at the Churchill station, we did not observe any “black” persons stopping to appreciate the music of the “white” performer.

Historically, the gaze has included concepts of gender (Sturken and Cartwright 2009). Many images were and still are geared towards the male gender (Sturken and Cartwright 2009). The producers of these images inferred that appreciation is gained from male viewers or the male gaze. This idea of the male gaze heavily influencing the production of images and film can be transferred to our investigation of buskers. We observed a greater amount of females looking at buskers versus males. This highlights the neutralizing of the predominant male gaze, which may potentially be due to changing of contents in art displays (including music). It is not just the changing contents that allows for greater female gaze, but the ability of the female to admire male viewing/listening pleasures and to embrace exhibitionism in our society.


The Power of the Gaze

The gaze between the performer and viewer establishes power relationships (Sturken and Cartwright 2009). It is seen that the one who is the “other” (i.e. the performer/busker) is at the mercy of the one that is observing (i.e. the viewer). Those who we observed to stop and listen or those who quickly dropped a couple coins in the busker’s bucket appeared to appreciate the work of the busker. On the other hand, many people who walked past quickly without acknowledgment of the busker appears to not appreciate the art. In either situation, the viewer has the power to engage with the busker and/or give money. Speaking with a busker reveals that they appreciate someone who takes the time to stop and listen to their music versus someone who quickly drops off a coin. Although this is the case with one busker, buskering is interesting in that the observer can hold power by attention or by money. The former plays a large role in the gaze.

The concepts on how the viewer interacts with the performer allow them to shape the performer in the way they see fit. Although the one who is gazing often has the upper hand in the practice of looking, it is important to note that the performer can shape the viewer as well. This is the epitome of the instance of how music can shape our life, how music can accompany us and influence our emotions in the ups and downs of our life.

The Dynamics of Interaction Between and Busker

Bricollage and Counter-Bricollage

Busking is often automatically considered to be a “low taste”, unsophisticated form of expression. Those who listen to and observe the buskers are viewers rather than an audience. These two terms have been compared in texts previously (Sturken and Cartwright 2009) but essentially audience refers to a group that is conceptualized by the media industry as having a common interest or priority, whereas a viewer is an individual who is observing. Because a number of individuals with very different backgrounds, musical taste and priorities pass by buskers, it is incorrect to refer to them as an audience. A sort of modern-day bricollage and counter-bricollage has taken place in the world of busking. In analyzing this, we compared buskers at the Churchill station near Edmonton City Centre to well-known celebrity-status buskers on video on YouTube. The French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss coined the term bricollage, which refers to the use of cultural commodities outside of their typical contexts. Busking can be considered a form of bricollage because it is the utilization of and performance of music outside of the expected, structured context such as a concert hall or on a stage and to an unexpected, casual setting such as a subway station. At the Churchill station, the interaction between audience and busker varied. On some occasions (observation occurred at the same time each day), the viewers were not receptive to the buskers and we did not see crowds forming. The viewers passed by, some gave a glance and only two people were observed dropping money for the buskers. This reinforces the value of busking being a low-class, kitsch-like activity (Press and McNamara 1975) practiced by those who do not have enough money to make ends meet. Yet, busking has recently become a sort of avant-garde thing to do. A conversation with a busker revealed that the individual was from a well-off family, and did not require the money that he collected from busking to cover his costs. Rather, he found this to be an enjoyable way to spend his day, giving him an outlet to perform his original music and juxtapose his relaxed self amongst the hustle and bustle of the rush hour. Searching “buskers” on YouTube bring up a number of videos of well-known artists in popular music who are busking on the streets with a large number of viewers gathered around them. This counter-bricollage of using busking as a way of capturing viewers and gathering new fans is almost a new form of free marketing that artists are using. The video below shows British singer James Morrison busking in Birmingham city in England.

Crowds gather all around him, of all ages and demographics and are very receptive to his performance, dropping money and increasing in numbers as he performs. Video two shows an anonymous busker in Churchill station in Edmonton busking. No crowds gather, most quickly pass by and no one drops off money. The reception and interaction between busker and audience is therefore dependent on the status of the busker within the community.


Nostalgia and Reproduction

Individuals are always looking for familiarity, particulary in places that are for the most part unfamiliar to us, such as a subway station. Our observations led to the conclusion that interaction between viewer and busker depends on this. When we observed buskers playing familiar songs such as “Time of Your Life” by Green Day, reception was greater and by a greater diversity of viewers than when the busker played an original song. The reasoning for this could be that in the midst of moving to and from different locations to get daily tasks done, hearing a familiar song which many people can relate to helps to conjure up a sense of comfort and nostalgia within the viewers thus leading to greater reception. Hearing an unfamiliar song by an unfamiliar artist on the other hand, may make the viewer feel distant from the busker and thus not as receptive to it.