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Busking 'ban' gives musicians the blues
THE musician Graham Coxon and Henry Conlon who runs the Dublin
Castle pub had spoken out against Camden’s clampdown on
musician’s busking in the street.
They made their comments after an American folk musician was
told to pack her guitar by a street warden outside Camden Town
Tube station.
Folk singer Marcia Mellow, who visits London from Massachusetts
once a year to record an album and busk, was playing ragtime
blues outside the Royal Bank of Scotland by Camden Town Tube
on Monday when a street warden told her to move on or face a
fine.
Ms Mellow, 52, said: “The warden told me there’s no
busking allowed in Camden.”
She added: “I love Camden for the people and the music
– it is London’s musical centre.”
Mr Coxon, the former Blur guitarist, who lives in Camden Town,
and Mr Conlan – whose family have run the Dublin Castle
pub in Parkway, Camden Town – for 31 years said busking
is key to Camden’s cultural identity. Mr Coxon spotted
the street warden telling Ms Mellow to stop. He said: “She
sounded lovely, so I went over to talk to her and then the warden
asked her to leave.
“It’s awful – we act like we’re so proud
of our musical heritage and yet we don’t support local
musicians and make people singing in the street criminals.”
Mr Conlan, whose pub is renowned for giving bands such as Madness
their first gigs, said: “I think we need more buskers.
Camden is the place where talent is discovered and musicians
shouldn’t just be playing in pubs and clubs – it adds
to Camden’s unique vibrancy and character.”
He added: “Busking is a living – at least you’re
getting something back and not just begging in the street.”
A council press officer said busking was not illegal in the
borough, but street wardens were allowed to move people on if
they were causing a obstruction. |
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