Tube Music
I spend most of my life trawling, running, queuing, stuck (add random verb) in the tunnels of the London tube. It becomes not just a way of life but an art: knowing where to place oneself so that the door opens right in front of you, choosing the carriage depending on the proximity of the exit at the target station, squeezing through tourists without inflicting much deserved pain (they deserve a good slap for not knowing about "tube etiquette" and always blocking the f***ing way) , and knowing where to stop to enjoy the station art around you.
One of the features of the tube is their musical scheme. On the one hand, some tube stations have decided to blast classical music at top volume, giving them a Clockwork Orange sheen. I am guessing here that the music is supposed to relax and pacify the angry customer or the bored yob looking for a passenger to headbutt. It certainly makes the stations more interesting, somehow culturate, and disconcerting at times, when you realise that your surroundings, despite the heavenly music, are thoroughly depressing: decaying paint, dirty floors, smelly corners and other interesting addenda to those insecure and unwelcoming locations where a Londoner dwells for most of their working life.
On the other hand, a well known beer brand has promoted "busking" spots in a number of stations. Basically, they stick a fake "concert lights" background on the floor and wall and high quality buskers can play there much to the delight of the bored commuter. I think this is a fabulous idea, as they are certainly good performers and they do give you something different to listen to while you stand on the escalators (the classical music becomes boring once you have gone through the Walkyries / Seasons / Spanish concerto loop for a number of times).
The buskers placed at the bottom of the stairs in Liverpool Street (central line) are perhaps the most interesting a) because you cannot see them for a while, while going down in the escalators, so you are allowed to imagine where the music comes from, and b) because they are just plain weird. My top-weird one has to be the blind man whistling (yes, whistling). The chosen tunes tend to be Greensleeves and similar traditional songs, no instrument appart from his wind - and no, he does not accompany with a bass farting section. He is actually really good at it, and it is somehow moving to see him - big chap, shaved head, pretty much scary if you meet him in a dark alley at night... but he whistles so well.... But, alas we should not forget the frantic drum players: there are usually two of them, bongo'ing along as if they were in a trance. The funny thing about them is that they really make you feel like a monkey in a jungle, surrounded by herds of animals, enclosed in wild tunnels, stressed, horrified, sweating, not knowing when your train is going to arrive... the horror, the horror.... within the Tube of Darkness.
So next time you dare using the underground, spare a minute for these performers, as there is nothing of the sort above the ground. Just more queues of people and the noise of cars... and the accoustics are crap (at least they would be for the whistling man).
One of the features of the tube is their musical scheme. On the one hand, some tube stations have decided to blast classical music at top volume, giving them a Clockwork Orange sheen. I am guessing here that the music is supposed to relax and pacify the angry customer or the bored yob looking for a passenger to headbutt. It certainly makes the stations more interesting, somehow culturate, and disconcerting at times, when you realise that your surroundings, despite the heavenly music, are thoroughly depressing: decaying paint, dirty floors, smelly corners and other interesting addenda to those insecure and unwelcoming locations where a Londoner dwells for most of their working life.
On the other hand, a well known beer brand has promoted "busking" spots in a number of stations. Basically, they stick a fake "concert lights" background on the floor and wall and high quality buskers can play there much to the delight of the bored commuter. I think this is a fabulous idea, as they are certainly good performers and they do give you something different to listen to while you stand on the escalators (the classical music becomes boring once you have gone through the Walkyries / Seasons / Spanish concerto loop for a number of times).
The buskers placed at the bottom of the stairs in Liverpool Street (central line) are perhaps the most interesting a) because you cannot see them for a while, while going down in the escalators, so you are allowed to imagine where the music comes from, and b) because they are just plain weird. My top-weird one has to be the blind man whistling (yes, whistling). The chosen tunes tend to be Greensleeves and similar traditional songs, no instrument appart from his wind - and no, he does not accompany with a bass farting section. He is actually really good at it, and it is somehow moving to see him - big chap, shaved head, pretty much scary if you meet him in a dark alley at night... but he whistles so well.... But, alas we should not forget the frantic drum players: there are usually two of them, bongo'ing along as if they were in a trance. The funny thing about them is that they really make you feel like a monkey in a jungle, surrounded by herds of animals, enclosed in wild tunnels, stressed, horrified, sweating, not knowing when your train is going to arrive... the horror, the horror.... within the Tube of Darkness.
So next time you dare using the underground, spare a minute for these performers, as there is nothing of the sort above the ground. Just more queues of people and the noise of cars... and the accoustics are crap (at least they would be for the whistling man).
I'm one of the busker actually, and there's a big group of us who are very unhappy with the fact that they gave the whisteling blind man a license.
He makes a lot of money just from people feeling sorry for him. We spend years practicing music and then he makes us feel like beggars.
Thanks,
Anonymous.
Posted by
Anonymous |
6:33 pm
I Have also heard the Blind whistler. I am a composer and have never heard anyone whistle so well before, and its so nice not having an amplifier blasting at you. I gave him a tenner, the fact that he was blind had nothing to do with it. He doesn't seem to let it bother him, so why should anyone else?
Posted by
Anonymous |
9:21 pm
It is nice to see that actually one of the buskers has seen my post giving us also an insight on their point of view... welcome Anonymous! I see the point about earning more money for being "blind" rather than for "whistling well". On the other hand, I have to acknowledge that I appreciate the whistling and find it really simple and beautiful, regardless of whether he is blind or not, as it does fill in all the station in an uncanny way and it is quite melancholic (that is why I enjoy Liverpool Street, because you do not see the performers until you are actually at the bottom of the stairs, so you have a full scalator trip to enjoy and wonder, be it whistling men, be it heart of darkness bongo-ing, be it the opera lady) but I guess that this is a matter of taste too.
Would also like to say hi to Daniel, thanks for leaving your comments, it is nice to see that there's other people around sharing the same experiences (whistling experiences?). I only know another person that whistles as good as the blind man, and that was my neighbour, a professional trombone player (guess the lungs capacity has got a good deal to do there). He whistled the most amazing jazz tunes though...
Posted by
Granpatranha |
12:37 pm
http://www.stupidlyhappy.com/archives/
2003_10.html
October 09, 2003
the whistler
There's this bloke. He whistles.
I just got back from Camden and he was there today. Now he's blind and I'm very
sorry
about that - but it doesn't excuse the whistling. He seems to be on some sort of
hustling/
busking circuit because I've seen him in Winchester and Guildford too. He stands
outside
the entrance to the shopping mall, with a prominent white stick (I hate to be
cynical but
I'm not convinced of the authenticity of the vision loss), and a small bowl of
the type
people put in their sink to do the washing up. The bowl is to collect the coins
that he feels
are due to him for his bravado whistling.
That's all he does. Whistling. No musical instruments, no backing - just the
whistling.
But the whistling is hideous. It's like some bird that has been shot from the
sky and is
falling to its death. A grotesque, twittery, tuneless whistle. It's like Wil
Wheaton on helium.
It's like fingernails being scraped down a blackboard. It's torture.
What tunes does this ne'er-do-well impose upon us? As I passed by, with my hands
covering my ears, he was segueing 'The Girl From Ipanema' with that 'Doe a deer,
a female
deer' thing from The Sound Of Music. This is indignity piled upon injustice. He
should be
imprisoned. He should be sent to whistle at Arnie's inauguration. He should be
sent to
whistle at the Court of Tony Blair. Anywhere but in Camden, or Guildford, or
indeed
anywhere that I am.
The worst aspect is the volume. He is a whistling foghorn. You can hear him from
several
blocks away. I wouldn't want to deny anyone the chance to make an honest buck,
but in
the whistling man's case, I could make an exception, remove my socks, and stuff
them
into his whistle happy gob.
Posted by
Anonymous |
2:37 am
I always took great pride during my teenage London summers to know exactly where to place myself in the carriage so that the train would leave me just where I wanted in the station (i.e. third door of the second carriage to change from Circle to Central in Notting Hill Gate). It gave me the ilussion that I was a Londoner again, even if I was just visiting my Nan. Now I read the names of the Picadilly Line stations as a poem to cure my nostalgia attacks. Saudades...
(Happy Xmas)
Posted by
Anonymous |
12:12 pm
Benvido Xesús... y Happy Xmas también! The tube gets into your veins like an adrenaline rush. I've just left for two eeks and here I am now, getting the jitters every time I think I will have to spend another year in commuter's hell. I still need to refine my positioning though... :)
Posted by
Granpatranha |
12:18 pm