Hong Kong’s Mong Kok street performers are not music to the ears – at their current volume at least
Peter Kammerer says the caterwauling in Mong Kok should be replaced by performers whose quality has been vetted so that talented amateurs have a chance to shine
Mong Kok is a place I go only if absolutely necessary. The crowds I can take; it is the noise I can’t.
But it is those who erroneously think they can also hold a tune or play an instrument who give the street, and in consequence the district, a bad name. Proof that they lack ability is plainly on show in the cranked-up amplification they wrongly believe is a necessary part of entertainment.
Of course, the amplifiers are also necessary to help compete against the warbling of other singers; the entrepreneurs who operate the “music stalls”, from which payment of HK$100 (US$12.70) or so gives the right to perform a few songs, have factored that into their business plan.
The police can’t do much about it, even though there are laws against causing a public disturbance. For every untalented person who has the volume on their amp turned to 11 given a warning or told to stop, there is another eagerly waiting to step in when the officer goes away.
I can suggest a few solutions. One I’ve been thinking about, to mute the off-key amateurs who perform in the public space near the escalators to Times Square, Causeway Bay, the building in which I work, has overtones of terrorism.
One performer uses extreme amplification on his electric guitar that is so loud that I become disorientated; the visually-impaired often develop acute hearing to compensate for lack of sight. In my mind, I would turn towards the source of the racket and march directly at it and when the startled man stops, I would ask him to guide me to my office.
Sai Yeung Choi Street South, being a much bigger area, would require a more concentrated and coordinated blind-person attack.
This is what happens in Covent Garden in London, arguably the world’s premier venue for street performers. With a history of such entertainment dating back to the 17th century, it has in place a well-developed system in which variety and circus performers and classical vocalists and instrumentalists front a judging panel four times a year for three-minute auditions, from which acts are chosen for the larger busking spaces. The types of instruments are regulated and no amplification is allowed.
Hong Kong has no shortage of talented amateur vocalists and instrumentalists and we should instead be ensuring the prominent street stage for them.
Covent Garden is too strict a model to adopt, but the basics of a registration system and auditions make good sense. Cultural and arts groups should take the lead in turning the pedestrian zone from an outdoors karaoke club run by unsanctioned profiteers into a properly-managed entertainment area that we can be proud of.
Peter Kammerer is a senior writer at the Post