Buskers make Cork’s streets special, but we must have some rules in place

ON a visit to England last weekend, I visited (read: ‘Was dragged along to’) the Trafford Centre in Manchester.

It’s a vast temple of shopping consumerism, a Mecca of the religion of capitalism that pulls in money and people from miles around.

There are also dozens of cinema screens, hundreds (I reckon) of food options - and even a Legoland and aquarium for those of us with smallies and teenagers who are averse to browsing endlessly through clothes.

While walking its endless aisles, I noticed an absence of something: Live music. There wasn’t a busker in sight, an unusual enough experience in a crowded shopping area.

I looked up the centre’s website and they are not allowed - any public performers have to be approved in advance, and presumably meet a certain criteria; so perhaps a choir at Christmas is fine, but a guy with a harmonica and a shaggy dog and a single tuneless song might get snubbed.

It’s a neat way to deal with the delicate balancing act that busking requires in order for everyone to be a winner.

Of course, it’s all well and good for a private property to operate such rules, but in public places in towns and cities, it’s a different matter. The streets belong to us all.

Besides, nearly all of us enjoy a good busker, and collectively they can add a mood of artfulness and colour to a city.

I think Cork folk in particular see ourselves as being a place where artistic people should be made to feel at home to practice, perform, and flourish.

But the threshold between being a er-by and hearing a few mellifluous moments of music, and working in a shop yards away for hours on end and hearing the same damn tunes over and over... well, you can see where a balancing act is needed.

Add in the volume and, er, quality, of some buskers, and you have an area that is ripe for some kind of regulation to keep all parties happy.

Cork City Council has grasped that nettle and is looking to introduce new street performance by-laws. This will be a tricky process - and could end up with all parties being unhappy, rather than all being contented, if the rule-makers are not careful.

Oliver Moran, a Green Party Cork City councillor, certainly felt the process got off on the wrong foot, when he complained in an Echo article this week that the initial stakeholder consultation involved businesses and the gardaí, but not the buskers, artists or musicians themselves.

“Rather,” said Cllr Moran, “input from them will be taken alongside everyone else in the public consultation – and not as stakeholders in their own right.”

This does appear to be a mis-step.

When the local council to the Trafford Centre in Manchester drew up recent guidelines on busking, it involved the musicians’ union in the talks from the get-go.

However, Cllr Moran went on to say the buskers and musicians he had spoken to were in general agreement about the proposals.

It’s also worth pointing out that many businesses also see the value in having performers entertain people in the streets - it adds to the feelgood factor required when people gather to spend money - so this isn’t an ‘us and them’ situation.

So, what are the proposed rules for Cork city? They include:

That the sound produced at a distance in the immediate vicinity of a street performer shall not exceed 75 decibels.

The use of backing tracks is not permitted in any circumstances.

A Member of An Garda Síochána has the power to direct a performer to move from a non-specified area at any time.

23 proposed Cork city locations have been suggested, but for no more than two hours by the same performer in one day, with breaks between performances at each location.

So far so good, I feel.

However, Cllr Moran, who has been active on this issue on behalf of all parties, has spotted a few glitches.

The proposed ban on backing tracks may restrict certain performers, such as operatic singers, dance, hip-hop, and melody instrumental soloists, while the decibel level may be an issue too, as some areas can take a louder noise than others.

Perhaps the biggest potential issue, though, is one that buskers everywhere are already experiencing - the onset of a cashless society.

The only legitimate method by which to pay a busker in Cork city under the proposed by-laws is by placing money into a ‘receptacle’ like a hat or guitar case. I mean, come on, how many coins do you have in your pocket as you read this?!

Since Covid, there has been a growth of online services to allow for cashless payments to buskers, and this should surely be factored into the by-laws.

The proposed rules also include a requirement to as a busker that comes with a registration fee of €30 a year each.

This shouldn’t be an issue for a solo performer, but could be for a group of entertainers.

Cllr Moran suggested giving preferential treatment on this to students or under 25s who use the streets as a training ground to hone their skills.

These proposals seem fair as we prepare for a new busking landscape.

Overall, the new rules make sense, and offer balance. A rare example of a win for all sides.

Businesses and shoppers get a lively and colourful streetscape, buskers get a chance to perform, but the loud and repetitive performers among them have to change their ways.

Music to all our ears?