By Alistair Steele
And there he was, standing on the corner of Elgin and Frank, sawing away at an old fiddle, a few coins in the battered instrument case at his feet. I think he was playing a jig. Or maybe it was a reel. A polka?
Whatever it was, he’s the first busker I’ve seen this year, as sure a sign as any tulip bulb that warm weather is on the way.
Some buskers are moderately talented. Some are very talented. Some are ingenious. Years ago, before I moved here, I was visiting Ottawa when a young busker approached me and offered to compose, on the spot, a Shakespearean sonnet featuring my name. To this day I remember that street bard as a) the only person I’ve ever met who’s managed to make an English degree pay, and b) someone who made me stop and think, Man, what an interesting place this is!
Ottawa’s buskers are as varied and as memorable as the Peace Tower, the Eternal Flame or any of Centretown’s venerated landmarks. They are a part of our landscape. There’s that fantastic trio of Celtic musicians who perform regularly on Elgin Street, for example. There’s the guy on Rideau who plays some pretty mean blues guitar with his prosthesis. And there’s Peter O’Connell, Ottawa’s infamous one man band.
Last year, O’Connell and fellow busker Carl Beaupre were each issued a pair of $95 tickets by National Capital Commission conservation officers for playing their instruments on the frozen Rideau Canal. When the officers approached O’Connell, the crowd of 30 or 40 gathered to hear the busker’s music booed heartily. And when the NCC realized, after a great deal of damning press coverage, that the affair wasn’t winning them any publicity points, they issued O’Connell a gleaming one-of-a-kind NCC busking license.
Officials promised to issue more licenses to interested performers, free of charge.
The Sparks Street Mall Management Board, which organizes the five-day International Busker Festival in August, also offers licences for a nominal fee. The folks on Sparks Street realize that street performers add colour and attract business to their area.
Buskers who perform around the world, like globe-trotting bagpiper Stephen Smith, say Ottawa is one of the most hassle-free places to ply their trade.
If the NCC and the city can be kind to buskers, then so can we all. The next time you hear a screeching violin, or for that matter one sweetly played in tune, stop and thank a busker.
Better yet, leave behind a few coins.
Buskers may not be music to everyone’s ears, but they sure make Ottawa an interesting place to live.