THE YOUNG BUSKER — a story for the youth struggling in the music industry
The young busker at the station plays for strangers everyday. He has a case at his feet full of coins, and of all passengers coming and going only some stop, but all listen.
He knows cities have ears, and not only sound but look empty when music doesn’t fill in the gaps between just another grey day and beauty.
The busker at the station has a look of determination as he performs. This is not about the case full of coins, this is not about the passengers stopping to look and listen, there is a lot behind the shadow of his hat.
There is hours, entire days spent practicing until his finger nails bled a little on the sides, there is sacrifices, places he hasn’t been and people he hasn’t met yet to make this happen, for his fingers to run through the strings like a brush through pretty girls hair.
There is a spark lighting his face even when the sun doesn’t shine, because the journey to where he needs to go is a bendy road uphill. He was told before to hold on to that spark, to that passion, because without it there’s nothing to prepare him for how hard it gets.
Some days are better than others, some days it’s easier to remember the comfort of stereotyped statements like: “A winner is just a loser who kept trying”, and believing it. He feels like he’s standing at the edge of a cliff. Everything is on the other side but there is a gap that separates him from it, he thinks if he jumps hard enough he might get to the other side. The more he looks, the more the other edge seems further away, so he doesn’t jump.
Yet he comes to the station everyday with his case and plays for strangers in the shadow of his hat. Behind him stand tall the giant advertisements of big music platforms offering peanuts for gold, then the new face of famous labels, a smile made of plastic for her exploited talent. This is what’s infecting the future of music as a craft, music as a passion, the youth is tired but doesn’t give up.
And as it pours rains over the big city made out of passengers in a rush, as it pours rain on his wet and empty case, the busker tells himself today, like yesterday, that maybe the universe doesn’t owe him anything, but he is on the look out for a change.
He has wondered if maybe the worries of the older generation were correct, if this is just a dream to shove in a drawer and do something else. But the love for music has brought him this far and after all he can still make it happen.
The days pass on the road outside the station, and he’s still there, and he’s still young. His music has grown, he’s ready and he’s been for a while. The question unanswered remains: “How to break through?”.
Things move in a tireless flow, with their time and justice, and the advert behind him is now consumed by time, and rain has made the words impossible to read and the images blurry. Then someone drops a flyer in his case, maybe by mistake. He takes a break from his strings and picks it up. The blue flyer recites: Soundeon. He flips it around and reads it.
At the back of the Soundeon flyer the busker reads: “Talent Unleashed”. So he packs up his case earlier today, all he needs is his talent now and he has somewhere urgent to be. He needs to join the contest Soundeon offers, to promote young artists like him, allowing him to start or continue his musical journey with guidance.
Soundeon begins the change in the music industry by building a bridge between cliffs for the busker to cross, so he doesn’t have to jump, he’s protected and can walk on the other side with his own legs. Soundeon understands and respects the difficulty of the craft and makes connections and financial help finally accessible. The young busker knows a chance is the most precious thing he can get, and as he walks away to start a new journey he clutches to the flyer, he thinks to himself that if he plays it right, this time he might really break through.
___________________________________________________________________
If you would like to keep an eye on our project, follow us on Facebook or Twitter. We will keep you posted!
