BUSKER BELIEVERS
They all wowed me! I was astounded, amazed, and entertained with a capital "E". Not words to be taken lightly in these days of the "Phantom Menace" and other such sensory eye candy, but then again, this "wow" had nothing to do with computer generated images or pyrotechnically enhanced effects.
What exactly was it that wowed me?-- the Busker Festival in Halifax. What is a busker, you ask? A busker is a street performer; someone who entertains on the street whether it be through music, or humor, or magic, or acrobatics, or all of the above. Now, before I go any further, get any picture of a street beggar out of your mind. Those who sit on the street corners with their hand out have nothing in common with these people. Every year Halifax hosts a busker festival and buskers from all over the world come and showcase their talents. If you enjoy what they do, it is expected that you will contribute a buck or two, or more for the performance. If you didn't like the act, you can just walk away. Each one of these acts earn their living like that year in, year out. Needless to say, either these people get very good at generating, keeping, and pleasing a crowd, or they end up doing something else for a living!
What exactly were the acts that I saw this year? Well there was this one group called the "Acafellas". They were an awesome quartet of guys with sweet harmonies and lots of stage presence and humor. Then there was this other guy who rode a unicycle, and at the climax of the act, he juggled a running chain saw. There was a wonderful band from Ecuador which played traditional acoustic music with an infectious beat. We saw this one act from London, England that would have felt very comfortable on the Vaudeville stages of seventy years ago, yet they were truly funny with their skillful illusions and uproarious silliness. Last year I saw a guy contort his way, from feet to head, through a wire coat hanger--without breaking it! I realize that's hard to believe, but you just had to be there.
As I watched this amazing assortment of creativity and skill perform on the Halifax Harbourfront, I couldn't help but notice the genuine joy and amazement of the vast crowds assembled. Kids, their minds filled with all the movie hi-tech effects and every innovation of the computer gaming world, were sitting there laughing. They were enthralled by this in your face, low-tech/high skilled form of performance. It really surprised me and got me to pondering. What was it about this style of performance that so effectively broke through the jaded "I've seen it all" attitude that's so prevalent today?
Well, first, it's risky. These people are a few feet in front of you. Many of them use the audience in their acts. There are kids running around while they're trying to keep on top of a twelve foot high unicycle, or get out of the straight jacket while hanging upside down. Some people are co-operative, others are not. Everything is so variable. Obviously such a risky way of performing only adds to the "wow" factor.
Second, it's intimate. These people interact with the audience all through their act. You can hear their impromptu comments and jokes and hang around to drop the cash in the hat and talk to the performer. How approachable are the stars that usually entertain us? They're up there on screen, or captured in the bits and bytes of the CD plastic. If you're lucky, you might be able to see them in concert from a few hundred yards away, but you most likely won't be able to stand around and talk to them. The personal connection part of the busker performance is immediately pleasing and unique.
Finally, there is the community factor. Because the performer is right there in the midst of this assembled crowd, there is sense in which we are all part of the performance. We are all experiencing this "happening" right in front of us and we are part of the "happening". It's a very organic, very communal kind of atmosphere, especially as some of the audience is dragged into the performance. As we watch Joe, three people down from us, get pulled into the performance, we realize that could have been us and we empathize with his situation; and give him a hearty round of applause as he walks back to sit down.
As I thought of the appeal of the buskers, it occurred to me that the Church can learn a thing or two from these fabulously talented people. Often we are told that the way to get people into the Church is by the Church competing with the world in the way we do things. We need highly-skilled singers and musicians and the worship service has to have flow and rhythm. In many churches today there isn't room for the imperfect singer or the casual back and forth, give and take of the congregation with those leading the service. Don't get me wrong, I believe that everything we do for our Lord Jesus needs to be the best it can be. The Lord is worthy of whole-hearted excellence in all we do. But, I wonder if the polish and the pageantry sometimes gets in the way.
To me the buskers were a reminder that the world is used to polish and the perfection of a movie screen or CD track, but are wowed by the unique opportunity to view the risky, the real, the intimate, the community. Perhaps the Church would become a more spiritually successful place if we started seeking to be riskier, realer, more intimate, more involved in building community? Just a thought on a rainy day in Halifax.
If you have any thoughts or comments, please email me by clicking on my name at the bottom of this page.
