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Opinion
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
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Australian-born Peter Kammerer has lived and worked in Hong Kong for more than 30 years, joining the Post in 1988.
Mong Kok is a place I go only if absolutely necessary. The crowds I can take; it is the noise I can’t.
The biggest culprit is Sai Yeung Choi Street South, where on weekends and public holidays, pedestrianised sections are turned into a free-for-all for wannabe singers. Enterprising types are apparently using the public area to rent equipment and space to the rankest of amateurs, resulting in a cacophony of competing wailing that numbs the senses and urges movement elsewhere.
Talented buskers avoid the street; they set up in places where they can be heard and appreciated. They have every right to and Hong Kong needs them; the culture of a city should be seen and cherished everywhere, the streets included.
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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.
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