or one for ballads, but rather hauntingly beautiful. It was the kind of voice that would ring through your body for days on end, make your hairs stand up on the back of your neck and give you shivers from head to toe. Once she had finished she looked up and was rather surprised that someone was actually listening to her and just as if she knew my ipod she smiled and started playing ‘Flume’ – Bon Iver. I’m telling you if I didn’t have more self-control I would have started sobbing right there. Once she had finished she told me that she had ran away from home and was moving from shelter to shelter, she told me she played because not only did it give her something to do and it got her money but it gave her a reason to keep going. She said that she loved music more than anything and even if she never got the chance to play in front of a proper crowed and she never earned enough money from it, it was something she would never ever give up. To me this girl could have been signed right away and played all over the world, her voice was incredible and the emotion she poured into every word was tear jerking, to me she was more captivating to watch than some of the gigs I had been to and better than some people in the music business right now.
So to answer my questions, I think people choose to busk because it gives them the chance to perform the songs they want to perform in front of their very own crowd, homeless people spend money on instruments as it gives them something to focus on and through music something to create and no you most definitely do not need a ‘proper’ stage to be a musician. Because, like that girl I watched, you can create your very own stage.
Sadly I never got a video of her performance, or a picture or even her name but I can guarantee you it will be a ‘gig’ that I will never forget.