The Art of Busking in Gwangju

Photos by Jordan VanHartingsveldt

Busking is street performance for gratitude or money and is perhaps the best-known form of street theater. Since it is street entertainment, anything goes; singing, comedy, music, juggling, even fire-eating and sword-swallowing. Buskers have existed in one form or another since the olden days.

Busking was the most common means of making a living for entertainers before the advent of recording and personal electronics. It is still a great way to build your confidence as a musician. It’ll give you the best training you can get in dealing with people and overcoming any fears of performing in public.

The modern idea of busking was introduced to Korea by the Irish movie “Once” and the music-based movie “August Rush”. However, traveling public performers are a part of Korea’s traditional culture. The Korean movie “The King and the Clown” shows a scene in which actors hold madangnori, a traditional outdoor performance.

The first modern busker band in Korea, Busker Busker (Hangeul: 버스커 버스커), got people interested in busking. Busking is mostly done in Seoul, especially in places around Honsik University and Itaewon. The most famous buskers are Kim Jeong-Hee, the band 10cm and, of course, Busker Busker.

However, buskers do regularly play in downtown Gwangju, around Uncheon Reservoir and in the Chonnam National University area. One band that has played outside of Chonnam’s back gate is Street Light Music. It consists of CNU students and staff. One of their performers is Park Jin-hyun of CNU’s Department of Civil Engineering; another is Park Jae-hyung of the Department of Korean Language and Literature. Other popular busker groups include #23 (named after a calling line identification restriction number) and 1% (named for their hope to be ranked in the top percent of bands in Korea).

Another of Gwangju’s popular acoustic bands is The Frog in the Well, who minimize their instruments to help listeners easily listen to their songs. The band plays three basic instruments: the acoustic guitar, the djembè and a piggy bank filled with coins. The four-member band busks in the streets of Gwangju almost 100 times a year.

Obviously the best locations for busking are places with a large and continuous amount of pedestrian traffic, such as parks, fairs, stations, shopping areas and important streets. Conflicts between bands over venue locations do take place. There can also be problems with local residents or business owners. CNU buskers have received complaints from student-residents that have sometimes been sorted out with the help of police. So buskers seek alternative places to play, like cafes and clubs – especially the Soft Straight-Line Café owned by Park Il-nam, opposite CNU. Nowadays there are busking competitions, festivals, events and associations to popularize and protect buskers.

If you are talented, busking is an ideal way to collect money for a trip or contribute towards the purchase of your textbooks. It can also be used to raise funds for charity or for conveying social messages. In 2013 an English teacher named Sarah Graydon was seriously sick and due to insurance rules she could not manage to pay her hospital bills. Foreign buskers organized charity shows to collect money for her.

Taking a similar approach, the project Hum With Me, Korea was created not only to support aspiring artists in gaining exposure but also to come to the rescue of anybody in need. So hum and hum anywhere you like!

Often, busking is mistaken as another form of begging, which it is not. Nor is it adopted by people who do not have enough education.  Many famous musicians and entertainers – Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Eric Clapton and Simon Garfunkel, to name a few – started their career on the street corner. Busking can be a stepping stone to stardom.

If you are looking to get a sense of the local culture, street performances are a great way to do it.