Busking World Cup

By William Urbanski

This past October, Gwangju hosted the inaugural Buskers World Cup (BWC) in what can only be described as a massive step in the right direction when compared to the ordinarily bland, tedious, and quite frankly pedestrian “festivals” that plague the ACC. Beyond providing all sorts of great entertainment, the BWC brought about a noticeable change in the ambiance of the downtown area and acted as a platform for meaningful and international cultural exchange.

Just What Is Busking Anyway?

Busking (a catch-all term which includes all sorts of musical acts and street performances) is popular in virtually all major Western cities and provides an element of organic entertainment to urban centers. In my mind, two things that characterize busking are the way the audience and performers feed off each other’s energy and the upbeat nature of the performances. Josh Butler, one of the participants from Brighton, England, who performs under the moniker Fukushima Dolphin, explained that busking can help create a special atmosphere in which the performer and audience go on a special journey together.

In what must have been a gargantuan logistical undertaking, buskers from all over the world were invited to Gwangju from October 8–17 in order to compete for a one-hundred-million-won first prize. The way it worked was that the initial field of participants were all given ten minutes to perform their best set, and over the course of three semi-final rounds, the performers were narrowed down to a group of sixteen who performed in the finals on the 17th. In talking to some of the musicians, it was clear that they felt ten minutes (starting from the moment they stepped on stage) wasn’t a lot time to perform, and some even felt they were cut short. I have mixed feelings about this aspect of the BWC because, while it wasn’t a lot of time, it forced the musicians to deliver only their strongest performances. As well, a few different artists felt it was hard to figure out what criteria was being used to judge the acts. Overall though, the organization seemed very on point. Butler mentioned that he was quite impressed in the way that the organizers managed the artists very well with stage times, getting everyone to play on time very smoothly. He also had nothing but good things to say about the sound crews.

Beyond the shows that were going on at the various stages around the ACC, there was a palpable change in the atmosphere downtown while the BWC was taking place. For one, there were definitely a lot of colorful characters out and about downtown, giving the area a very cosmopolitan feel. Many of the buskers took to, well, busking on the streets, which people seemed to genuinely enjoy. As well, even though it was a pretty high-stakes competition, there was a strong ambiance of camaraderie among the participants with the artists cheering each other on.

Festival Overload

The BWC wasn’t a cheap event to put on. In addition to the prize money, the festival paid for the plane tickets for each and every participant to come to Gwangju. That’s not even including the costs associated with setting up the stages and paying the sound team and MCs. Besides the money, it was clear that putting the whole thing together was a massive and painstaking undertaking. For these reasons, I was mystified by the fact that there were no less than four other festivals taking place at the same place and time as the BWC. Now some of the events (like the food and culture festivals that were taking place) synched up well with the BWC, but there were also various other musical performances happening that were the same tired, uninspired, cookie-cutter attractions that everyone in Gwangju and around Korea has seen a million times. It’s understandable that the powers that be wanted to have the maximum attendance possible during the course of the BWC, but I think it would have been a classy move to limit the musical performances in the ACC to only the buskers.

Cultural Exchange

No doubt one of the key motivations for putting on the festival was to increase Gwangju’s international profile and, in this regard, I think it was a resounding success. The artists I spoke with all seemed quite impressed with the city and with Korea in general. Butler was surprised that even though there are few garbage bins downtown there wasn’t much rubbish left around (something that I appreciate about Korea as well). Clean streets may seem like a small thing, but it speaks volumes about how Gwangju-ites feel about the city. The vast majority of the artists, few of whom would have likely ventured to Gwangju otherwise, had a great deal of positive experiences while here and will share these with their friends and family when they go home. It’s difficult to put a monetary value on the creation of these positive narratives about Gwangju because it just so happens to be one of those things that money can’t buy. And let’s not forget the benefits to the Gwangju community of being able to meet and have meaningful interactions with performers from all corners of the globe right in the downtown core.

Busking into the Future

Hopefully future iterations of the Buskers World Cup will be bigger, better, and feature even more international artists. While other music festivals taking place at the same time and pretty much the same place as the BWC may have muddled the branding of the event, it’s difficult to deny that the event was an unmitigated win for Gwangju and the participants alike.

Photographs by Kim Hillel Yunkyoung and William Urbanski.

The Author

William Urbanski is the managing editor of the Gwangju News. He’s married and can eat spicy food. Instagram: @will_il_gatto