‘Why don’t you go to play at (fill in pub name yourself)? They have music there every Friday and Saturday’. ‘Why don’t you play on Grafton Street? That’s great for busking, you see them there doing really well.’ ‘You should go to (insert town). They’re having a festival and there’ll be lots of people around.
I know my strengths and weaknesses. I’m singing a whole lot of songs that only a few people have heard before and that even a fan of songs will wilt after about half an hour. In a pub environment, people with a pint or two inside them and another in front of them enjoy hearing song after song that they know well, performed reasonably well and will even tolerate the occasional original song thrown in.
Since I began to sing and write and play on the street, I’ve learnt that while someone knows that this particular pub is ‘different’ and that my stuff will go down really well, the reality is that, unless I intersperse it with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash etc. that it won’t be a satisfying experience for the pub - or for me.
Busy streets, festivals etc. require a highly entertaining busker - maybe wearing a hat that has a monkey occasionally popping out blowing bubbles, or a bunch of competent players belting out Oasis songs and Hotel California.
This is why, when I was told about there Midland Busking Festival - while busking in Edgeworthstown, I had reservations about taking part. But hey, busking is what I’m doing now and you never know. The prize money €1000 would cover a couple of months rent and ease my life a bit.
I enquired by email about the criteria of the judges but couldn’t get info on that. I did get info on time of start ‘Turn up at… you’ll be allocated your pitch and then start playing at…. and then acts will be given 10 minutes on stage before the judges’ Oh and €10 entry fee to be paid when getting your allocated spot.
We can dream. From this, I thought that maybe this was a competition that I had a chance it and, at least worth taking part in so went along to find out.
On the way, I did a warm up outside Tesco in Longford town for a couple of hours - I’m still surprised and pleased that they don’t object to somebody playing a few songs on their property. There were some 1st communion families about - some from members of the travelling community with dresses that would shame a bride. During my wandering minstrel years, I was often disappointed when I came across travellers as contrary to what I’d expect, they were even more reticent about listening to a song than even the average household. Whatever happened to the romantic gypsy campfire sessions? This is why I was really happy to see one traveller first communion boy turn back and drop a couple of euro into my case.
In Edgeworthstown. there were many guitar slingers on the street - mostly local - and I chatted with some, including a couple of guys with big rucksacks and dreadlocks - Busking for Tea. They’d come up the previous night and camped out and then gone busking outside the same supermarket I’d played at a couple of weeks earlier. They told me that, when not in college, they busked in Kilkenny outside a coffee shop playing bluesy country stuff in the morning and popular hits in the afternoon and did pretty well out of it. These are the ones to watch.
I went with them to the ‘busking office’ and payed my tenner out of my Longford proceeds and was allocated pitch no. 11 and, when I asked about the 10 minutes in front of the judges, was informed that there wasn’t time and that the judges would be walking around and listening. Bummer.
I also had about an hour and a half to pass and, after a stroll around got an all-day breakfast at a local cafe and made a sign ‘Seanie’s Homemade Songs to put in my case. Marks were going to be awarded for ‘quality & originally and with ‘walk about judges’, they needed to know I was singing ‘original material’
Martin from Roosky arrived for moral support and we had a beer. The under 16s competition was underway and the street atmosphere was good. There was a lovely little 6 year old singing ‘Beeswing’ over and over - not from life experience I would imagine and he was in a pretty ropey spot at the outside end of town - Pitch no. 11.
To make a long story a little shorter - I played for an hour, didn’t repeat a song or sing a cover song and, when the judges duly appeared, they stuck around for a half a song (one that was singled out as a ‘Gem’ in a Hot-Press review of Losers & Sinners’ and, after they left, Martin told me that they’d arrived during the ‘wrong song’ and hadn’t been very interested. They had been interested in the six piece traditional music group that were playing across the street and had caught one of 20 renditions of ‘It was not your fault but mine’ - a song that several of the acts seemed to favour and, when the busking hour was over, we all drifted down to the gig rig for the results.
6 acts were called up to play one song each - I wasn't among them. There was an excellent close harmony 3 piece called Triple Plec (probably my choice for the winners), a duo singing a pop song - nice performance, a good trad outfit, Busking for Tea (yaay), an attractive young dark haired girl playing something that sounded singer/songwriter, though I don’t know it it was her song, two guy with guitars playing something popular and Banjaxed - a nine piece trad outfit with fiddles, banjo, a double bass and even a wheelchair who did their own interpretation of, ‘It was not your fault but mine - copping out on the chorus changing the ‘really f*cked it up this time’ to ‘messed it up’.
I’d looked forward to hearing Busking for Tea and was disappointed to hear them play a song that’s overdone and seldom done well - Folsum Prison Blues by Johnny Cash. Their musicianship was excellent but I don’t think it was passionate performance - I’m sure they do much better.
Judges out.
I learnt that the judging panel turned out to be the local Allied Irish Bank manager who had organised the €1000 prize money through a few local branches, the assistant manager from the Mullingar branch, a traditional music ex all- Ireland champion dancer and a guy from a band who’d just put out their first album.
Third, second and first prize were announced in that order and the €1000 prize money was divided up as follows, €500, €300 and €100 (yes I know it doesn’t add up).
Third, Banjaxed
Second, the guy and girl doing a pop song, and First…….
….. Busking for Tea - who obviously know far better than I do what the judges wanted.
Congrats guys, enjoy and I’m glad it went the way of somebody who does actually busk and I look forward to catching you sometime in Kilkenny.
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