Busking

Busking can be commonly seen around Hong Kong. While some people enjoy the delights brought by street performers, other frown on the nuisance and inconvenience they cause. 

Write an article for the school magazine expressing your views on this street performance. 

Busking has gradually become a significant part of our city’s cultural scene. The street performers include not only youngsters but also people of all other ages. The opinions about this thriving development is mixed. On one hand, busking brings about certain social problems such as noise nuisance and heavy street congestion. On the other hand, it creates a dynamic and interactive platform for gifted people to demonstrate their talent. Although Hong Kong citizens are divided on this issue, busking bears certain existing value. All we need to do is balance a healthy cultural scene with civil order.

Busking will undermine the public order if the performers are not considerate enough. The Mongkok busking zone was a case in point. The buskers performing singing use stereo equipment to achieve their volume as high as possible and maximize their audience. They attempt to produce the loudest sound by competing over who has the better stereo equipment. It is not uncommon that a large banner or a heap of things is placed on the ground in the pedestrian zone to help buskers reserve their space. This would be a formidable obstacle to pedestrians to pass through. These kinds of savage behavior definitely affect the quality of life of local residents.

After all, we have to believe that some talented people in our city have yet to be discovered. They lack a chance to present themselves, and so street performance brings an open stage for them. They can showcase their diverse artistic abilities without the need to pay for the venue. Busking also breaks the barrier between audiences and performers, especially in the absence of the buskers’ popularity and fame. Most buskers enjoy receiving direct response from audience in order to finetune their performance or make further improvements. Some citizens even regard street performance as a connection to the community, helping foster the local harmony.

Someone might claim that it is preferable for buskers to obtain a performance licence for a particular public place. But what criteria does the authority adopt to grant the licenses? Artistic performance is very subjective: while certain performance is truly music to someone’s ears, it may be a major disturbance to others. And the real significance of busking is its freestyle feature. Any legislative control will trigger a change deep inside the nature. Perhaps Taikoo Place shed light on how to balance the development. The mall makes spaces and timetables for buskers to perform. Under the proper private management, the performance is well-ordered.

Busking is an international tradition that has been around for hundreds of years. There is no point in replacing it at all. However, our city’s buskers should conduct themselves with mutual respect, so that this age long practice will not be stained. If so, this street performance will flourish and become an integral part of our culture.