The group Playing For Change is the international stew stirred by Mark Johnson, a recording engineer/ producer who had a vision in a New York City subway station 10 years ago. He's travelled the world seeking out indigenous musicians all over the world to compile a series of songs performed by buskers. Johnson brought together, on tape, musicians from Israel, India, Ireland, the U.S. and several African nations to back the vocals of Marley and U2's Bono.

Playing for change

The past few years saw the release of several interesting busker documentaries. Online video sharing and social networking websites are now flooding the internet with street performers from around the world shot by amateurs on holiday.

...

[ Continued ]

(WWW) It's Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Carnival around the world. Try not to get hit in the head with a coconut when yelling "Throw me something, mister!".

'Songs in the streets of life: Celebrating the long history of buskers in New Orleans' is an lengthy article showcasing New Orlean's busking & street performing. New Orleans, LouisianA (NOLA) has been around for over 300 years in the "new world". It's history is both enlightening and pitch dark so we'll focus on performance.

The famous French Quarter makes New Orleans second to none when it comes to busking and street performing.

Jackson Square and Royal street are the two main areas of performing. One street north is Bourbon which is out of the question for most buskers. It has an open-container policy...the first in the US....

[ Continued ]

(TORONTO) Human statues, musicians, illusionists, jesters, jugglers, mimes, stilt walkers, and much more will be out on the streets of the Downtown Yonge area every Saturday and Sunday as part of Winter Magic's "Buskertainment."All donations during the Buskertainment event will go towards the Raising the Roof charity. The buskers will entertain shoppers and passersby then pass the hat in support of the worthy cause.

Raising the Roof is Canada's only national charity that dedicates itself toward funding long-term solutions for the homeless. What that means is they focus their efforts on permanent solutions to homelessness including finding proper housing, providing mental health services, and getting a homeless person "employment ready."

Stories, photos, and video are available thru the link...

[ Continued ]

We just arrive yesterday in Amsterdam and we had a few surprises!
First of all, the city decided to give only 10 licences these year to play on the main spots with amplification. So forget it if you come as us to play here for a few weeks.
Also even if you are lucky and own a license, it's only possible to play with amplification 3 days a week, thursday, friday, saturday and from 12h to 13h, 15h to 16h, 18h to 19h and 20h to 21h, so even if you have a license you can play only a few shows three days a week!
Also i was told that you can not use fire anymore.
Well, we started our trip from Canada with Amsterdam and now we don't know where to go, who has a good idea?

(UTAH) With it's first ever Buskerfest, Salt Lake City has started to come out of it's shell in regards to street theater and performances. Citizens of the city are calling for more pitches to perform their art.Kim Angeli is determined to get more street performers in Salt Lake City - a place that hasn’t always been receptive to the idea. Angeli hopes the SLC Busker Fest will help spread the wealth and connect performers and audiences.

"I would love to have performers on every corner. Art and artistic performance makes an urban environment wonderful and begs to be visited repeatedly," posts Lance Hemmert.

"Abby the Spoon Lady is the most amazing Busker!" cries another.

Most professional buskers are...
...

[ Continued ]