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Street Musicians
An Anecdotal Essay on Street Musicians
-
There was a time when Adelaide's streets were the regular haunts of itinerant
musicians, who in the hope of collecting a few pieces of silver were willing
to pour forth the notes of brass instruments at every populous corner...
Where are they now?... Nothing is now heard by day in the streets but the
hoot of the motor horn, the noisy explosion of the exhaust of a cycle, an
occasional much-worn gramophone, or the feeble strains of a blind man's concertina.
(Advertiser, 10 June 1925, page 8g)
Introduction
Since Rundle Street was converted into a mall in the 1970s the art of "busking" has been introduced to that thoroughfare. In Adelaide's early days musicians roamed the streets at the mercy of their audiences which, over all but a century, passed varying opinions on their offerings. The following documentation presents a clear picture of the life and times of these itinerant musicians - it is presented in tabular form and in chronological order.
Newspaper References
Under the heading "Street Music" the Observer of 28 May 1853, page 5f says, inter alia:
-
We have recently witnessed... a gradual assimilation of South Australia to
the England of olden time, and among the rest we may welcome the homely strains
of the hurdy-gurdy airs of the barrel-organ.
A correspondent to the Register on 20 September 1865, page 3b comments on "Street Bands":
-
There are very few people who do not with pleasure remunerate those clever
performers who for a trifling sum enhance the streets of Adelaide with music
equal to any we hear performed at our concerts.
A letter complaining about street musicians is in the Register of 21 October 1867, page 2f:
-
[They] earn their living by playing hurdy-gurdies... A friend of mine... gave
one of them a shilling to go away. The afflicted creature took the shilling
and then, in a spirit of generosity (I presume), remained and gave my friend
a double dose of discord.
Certainly if the object of the barrel-organ nuisance is to drive people
into subscribing towards [an] Asylum the movement ought to succeed, for
very few persons could hold out against such an infliction for any length
of time.
(Register, 6 February 1868, page 2e.)
Every man of business - unless, perhaps, a lolly pop vendor - must have
felt how great is the pest of this most inharmonious and untimely grinding,
and doubtless many a poor clerk and book-keeper, interrupted by the horrid
discord, has felt inclined to do anything rather than "pity the poor blind".
(Advertiser, 27 December 1867, page 2f; also see 5 March 1869, page
3b.)
This type of "entertainment" met with disapproval from another correspondent to the Register on 2 May 1872, page 5e:
-
...these infernal [organ-grinding] machines are [all] grinding at the same
time, the noise being something frightful. I hope the City Council will see
that this awful plague is put a stop to...
On 23 December 1872, page 5d a long suffering citizen implored the authorities to rid the streets of the "nuisance":
-
If [they] cannot get a honest living... than by annoying other people let them
be put in the Destitute Asylum.
Five months later another agitated and concerned rate-payer warned that "young boys are being trained by the organ-grinders to be a future pest to society". (Register, 1 May 1873, page 7a.)
Still the problem persisted - "From early morn till dewy eve in Rundle Street is one continual noise..." "I would cheerfully subscribe weekly, monthly or yearly to be rid of them...". (Register, 9 and 10 July 1875, pages 6g and 5f.)
No further complaint was made until 15 March 1877, page 5g when a citizen exclaimed:
-
A short time since a cry was raised against the barrel-organs used by several
blind men and the press and police made it too hot for them and they have
disappeared, but their place has been filled by some new arrivals - strong
able-bodied men...
Another form of "musical" annoyance in the streets is reported in the Register, 4 January 1878, page 6c in respect of a band which:
-
Is taken out for an airing every afternoon... [Its row] is enough to destroy
the equanimity of any horse which is desirous of maintaining the credit of
his race and of his master's establishment...
On 21 January 1880 at page 6g of the Register a correspondent drew attention to:
-
The frequent disreputable nightly exhibitions of vocal and instrumental effort
on the part of a female and four children in our public thoroughfares. The
poor blind man who should unwarily be caught playing his organ... is summoned
to appear before Mr Beddome [magistrate]... while able-bodied persons are
permitted to disgrace the streets of our fair city, spooning upon public
charity...
In reply to this epistle another reader mildly chided the author on 26 January 1880 (supp.), page 1b:
-
He says nothing about the strong able-bodied foreigners who come to our shore
and grind from morning up to 11 o'clock at night; nor does he say anything
about the fiddlers and harp-players... [who] beg at every shop for a penny
or more... Then he says nothing about the German band who... go from house
to house and from shop to shop and look very black if you do not give them
something above a copper... I am sorry to say that there are many others
that are hard up in our fair city who have not got the nerve nor the ability
as these people are doing to get a living.
After a three year lull in complaints the following comments were made in the Register on 10 March 1883 at page 6a:
-
I refer, Sir, to two evidently escaped lunatics who perform ancient duets on
two seraphic instruments called "cornets" - It is impossible... to concentrate...
on work... with a couple of madmen butchering "Home, Sweet Home" and "The
Larboard Watch"...
(Also see Register, 12 March 1883, page 5e.)
On 18 June 1887 at page 6b a correspondent to the Register said:
-
What with jubilee offerings, charitable institutions,... all good in some respect,
and then that horror of horrors, the street piano, the barrel organ and the
melodeon, with vocal accompaniment...
An irate businessman aired his complaint in the Register, 10 July 1889, page 6h:
-
I beg to enter a protest against the Corporation of Adelaide in permitting
that band, German or Austrian, to use the instruments of torture so ferociously
wielded by these men. [They] interrupt the whole work of our offices... and
disturb one's train of thoughts...
(See Register, 12 and 15 July 1889, pages 7d and 7h for a defence of the "musicians".)
Another complainant appeared on the scene in the Register,
19 September 1889, page 3f:
-
Is there no law which can be put in force to prevent [organ-grinding] or make
the performer "move on". The incessant droning of the "Old Hundredth" and "Over
the Garden Wall" is exasperating to the last degree...
(Also see Register, 20 September 1889, page 6e.)
"Music of the Streets" is in the Register, 15 August 1898, page 4g:
-
Some of these organs are purposely kept in bad repair with the object of exciting
the pity of the passers-by. Charitable persons have often offered to subscribe
for the purchase of better instruments, but the wily performer has refused
to make any change.
"A Plea for the Street Musicians" is in the Register, 21 November 1903, page 4f, "Street Music" on 9 April 1920, page 9d:
-
Returned soldiers are playing in the streets - why? This is a great inconvenience
to business people, who cannot hear each other speaking... As these men are
returned soldiers, the Government is charged with their keep...
(Also see Register, 10 and 15 April 1920, pages 11d and 8f.)
The Advertiser of 6 November 1930, page 8e says, inter alia:
-
Penalties are provided for persons who shall "sing, preach or harangue, or
make any violent outcry which may cause annoyance or obstruction..." It was
also remembered by many that for years Adelaide possessed in Setaro's string
band one of the finest combinations that ever engaged in street music... [He]
ended his career as leader of a cinema orchestra.
(Also see The News, 15 May 1930, page 6e.)
General Notes
Under the heading "Street Music" the Observer of 28 May 1853, page 5f says, inter alia:
-
We have recently witnessed... a gradual assimilation of South Australia to
the England of olden time, and among the rest we may welcome the homely strains
of the hurdy-gurdy airs of the barrel.
16 September 1865, page 3b.
Also see Entertainment - Circuses.
A correspondent to the Register on 20 September 1865, page 3b comments on "Street Bands":
-
There are very few people who do not with pleasure remunerate those clever
performers who for a trifling sum enhance the streets of Adelaide with music
equal to any we hear performed at our concerts.
"Blind Musicians" is in the Chronicle,
28 December 1867, page 2b.
A letter complaining about street musicians is in the Register of 21 October 1867, page 2f:
-
[They] earn their living by playing hurdy-gurdies... A friend of mine... gave
one of them a shilling to go away. The afflicted creature took the shilling
and then, in a spirit of generosity (I presume), remained and gave my friend
a double dose of discord.
Certainly if the object of the barrel-organ nuisance is to drive people
into subscribing towards [an] Asylum the movement ought to succeed, for
very few persons could hold out against such an infliction for any length
of time.
(Register, 6 February 1868, page 2e.)
Every man of business - unless, perhaps, a lolly pop vendor - must have
felt how great is the pest of this most inharmonious and untimely grinding,
and doubtless many a poor clerk and book-keeper, interrupted by the horrid
discord, has felt inclined to do anything rather than "pity the poor blind".
(Advertiser,
27 December 1867, page 2f; also see
5 March 1869, page 3b.)
This type of "entertainment" met with disapproval from another correspondent to the Register on 2 May 1872, page 5e:
-
...these infernal [organ-grinding] machines are [all] grinding at the same
time, the noise being something frightful. I hope the City Council will see
that this awful plague is put a stop to...
On 23 December 1872, page 5d a long suffering citizen implored the authorities to rid the streets of the "nuisance":
-
If [they] cannot get a honest living... than by annoying other people let them
be put in the Destitute Asylum.
Five months later another agitated and concerned rate-payer warned that "young
boys are being trained by the organ-grinders to be a future pest to society".
(Register, 1 May 1873, page 7a.)
Still the problem persisted - "From early morn till dewy eve in Rundle Street
is one continual noise...". "I would cheerfully subscribe weekly, monthly or
yearly to be rid of them...".
(Register, 9 and 10 July 1875, pages 6g and 5f.)
No further complaint was made until 15 March 1877, page 5g when a citizen exclaimed:
-
A short time since a cry was raised against the barrel-organs used by several
blind men and the press and police made it too hot for them and they have
disappeared, but their place has been filled by some new arrivals - strong
able-bodied men...
Another form of "musical" annoyance in the streets is reported in the Register, 4 January 1878, page 6c in respect of a band which:
-
Is taken out for an airing every afternoon... [Its row] is enough to destroy
the equanimity of any horse which is desirous of maintaining the credit of
his race and of his master's establishment...
"Street Pauperism" is in the Register,
26 January 1880, page 1b (supp.).
On 21 January 1880 at page 6g of the Register a correspondent drew attention to:
-
The frequent disreputable nightly exhibitions of vocal and instrumental effort
on the part of a female and four children in our public thoroughfares. The
poor blind man who should unwarily be caught playing his organ... is summoned
to appear before Mr Beddome [magistrate]... while able-bodied persons are
permitted to disgrace the streets of our fair city, spooning upon public
charity...
In reply to this epistle another reader mildly chided the author on 26 January 1880 (supp.), page 1b:
-
He says nothing about the strong able-bodied foreigners who come to our shore
and grind from morning up to 11 o'clock at night; nor does he say anything
about the fiddlers and harp-players... [who] beg at every shop for a penny
or more... Then he says nothing about the German band who... go from house
to house and from shop to shop and look very black if you do not give them
something above a copper... I am sorry to say that there are many others
that are hard up in our fair city who have not got the nerve nor the ability
as these people are doing to get a living.
"Street Beggars" is in the Register,
8 and 11 December 1880, pages 7a and 7b.
After a three year lull in complaints the following comments were made in the Register on 10 March 1883 at page 6a:
-
I refer, Sir, to two evidently escaped lunatics who perform ancient duets on
two seraphic instruments called "cornets" - It is impossible... to concentrate...
on work... with a couple of madmen butchering "Home, Sweet Home" and "The
Larboard Watch"...
(Also see Register, 12 March 1883, page 5e.)
A poem titled "The Street Musician" is in The Lantern,
4 July 1885, page 24,
"The Trio" on
21 January 1888, page 17,
"The Blind Musician" on
14 April 1888.
Sketches of various musicians are in the Pictorial Australian in
October 1886, page 156;
a cartoon is in The Lantern,
5 April 1890, page 19.
On 18 June 1887 at page 6b a correspondent to the Register said:
-
What with jubilee offerings, charitable institutions,... all good in some respect,
and then that horror of horrors, the street piano, the barrel organ and the
melodeon, with vocal accompaniment...
An irate businessman aired his complaint in the Register, 10 July 1889, page 6h:
-
I beg to enter a protest against the Corporation of Adelaide in permitting
that band, German or Austrian, to use the instruments of torture so ferociously
wielded by these men. [They] interrupt the whole work of our offices... and
disturb one's train of thoughts...
(See Register, 12 and 15 July 1889, pages 7d and 7h for a defence of the "musicians".)
Another complainant appeared on the scene in the Register,
19 September 1889, page 3f:
-
Is there no law which can be put in force to prevent [organ-grinding] or make
the performer "move on". The incessant droning of the "Old Hundredth" and "Over
the Garden Wall" is exasperating to the last degree...
(Also see Register, 20 September 1889, page 6e.)
A satirical poem on organ-grinding is in the Observer,
6 February 1892, page 26b.
"Street Singing" is in the Express,
29 September 1892, page 4c,
3 November 1892, page 4d.
"Music of the Streets" is in the Register,
15 August 1898, page 4g:
-
Some of these organs are purposely kept in bad repair with the object of exciting
the pity of the passers-by. Charitable persons have often offered to subscribe
for the purchase of better instruments, but the wily performer has refused
to make any change.
"A Plea for the Street Musicians" is in the Register,
21 November 1903, page 4f,
"Street Music" on
9 April 1920, page 9d:
-
Returned soldiers are playing in the streets - why? This is a great inconvenience
to business people, who cannot hear each other speaking... As these men are
returned soldiers, the Government is charged with their keep...
(Also see Register, 10 and 15 April 1920, pages 11d and 8f.)
"The Blind Man's Music" is in the Register,
18 November 1905, page 4e.
"Blind Men's Squabble - Rival Street Musicians" is in the Register,
16 June 1908, page 4d.
"Street Music - Will the Lord Mayor Please Stop It" is in the Register,
9, 10 and 15 April 1920, pages 9d, 11d and 8f.
The Advertiser of 10 June 1925, page 8g has an editorial which says, inter alia:
-
There was a time when Adelaide's streets were the regular haunts of itinerant
musicians, who in the hope of collecting a few pieces of silver were willing
to pour forth the notes of brass instruments at every populous corner...
Where are they now?... Nothing is now heard by day in the streets but the
hoot of the motor horn, the noisy explosion of the exhaust of a cycle, an
occasional much-worn gramophone, or the feeble strains of a blind man's concertina.
"Street Musicians Against Ban" is in the Observer,
15 May 1930, page 29b.
The Advertiser of 6 November 1930, page 8e says, inter alia:
-
Penalties are provided for persons who shall "sing, preach or harangue, or
make any violent outcry which may cause annoyance or obstruction...". It was
also remembered by many that for years Adelaide possessed in Setaro's string
band one of the finest combinations that ever engaged in street music... [He]
ended his career as leader of a cinema orchestra.
(Also see The News, 15 May 1930, page 6e.)
An obituary of Francisco Setaro, musician, is in the Register,
18 January 1926, page 11d.
Paving and Watering
The watering of the streets is discussed in the Observer,
5 November 1853, page 7d,
Register,
3 and 5 November 1856, pages 2g and 2e,
"New Water Cart" on
16 and 23 January 1877, pages 5b and 5h,
"Street Watering Pump" in the Observer,
12 April 1879, page 14c; also see
Express,
4 April 1879, page 2c.
"Street-Making" is in the Observer, 27 May 1854, page 8c.
"Roadmaking in Adelaide", the reminiscences of Richard Nottle, is in The
Mail,
24 October 1925, page 1d.
Also see South Australia - Transport - Roads.
"Street Paving - An Improvement Needed" is in the Advertiser,
14 and 23 October 1902, pages 6d and 9e,
"Tar Dressing" on
29 March 1907, page 4f.
"Improved Pavements" is in the Advertiser,
11 October 1878, page 8h.
"Asphalt Pavements" in the Observer,
11 September 1880, page 446c,
20 November 1880, page 875b,
Register,
14 December 1880, page 5a,
16, 17, 19 and 20 January 1885, pages 5b, 5a-b, 7d and 4g-5c.
"Asphalt or Wood Blocks" is in the Register,
3 and 17 February 1903, pages 4f and 4e.
"Woodpaving of Streets" is in the Register,
28 and 29 January 1909, pages 4d and 7b,
5 February 1909, page 3b,
3 August 1909, page 9c,
6 November 1909, page 13a.
"Asphalt Contract" on
15 December 1910, page 10h.
"Paving the City's Streets" is in the Advertiser,
9 August 1882, page 6f.
"Laying the Dust" is in the Register,
16 August 1904, page 7h.
Also see Public Nuisances.
"Dusty Roads - Oil for Streets" is in the Register on 3 December 1902, page 5f:
-
The sun is not yet at its zenith, but even now the city lies half-hidden in
a veil of yellow light. Vehicles travelling along the rut-punctured thoroughfares
are almost lost in clouds of blinding dust:
The wind rises, waiting
The dust, till it hides man and beast from gaze
Till suddenly lifting and easterly drifting
We catch a short glimpse of the scene through the haze.
(Also see Register, 28 April 1903, page 4f.)
"Laying the Dust" is in the Register,
28 April 1903, page 4f,
16 August 1904, page 7h.
Also see Public Nuisances.
"The Dust Nuisance is in the Register,
16 August 1904, page 7h,
"Fighting Dust" on
19 September 1904, pages 3f-4g,
"Laying the Dust" on
10 and 18 November 1904, pages 4g and 6e,
"Watering the Streets" on
29 July 1905, page 6i,
"Remedies for Dust" in the Register,
10 April 1906, page 4h; also see
15 February 1907, page 4e.
"Woodpaving for Adelaide' is in the Express,
3 September 1902, page 2b,
30 September 1902, page 3d,
14 October 1902, page 4f,
4 and 12 November 1902, pages 3f and 2h.
"Adelaide's Muddy Streets" is in the Register,
1 and 8 August 1905, pages 3c and 3h.
"Is Road-Making a a Lost Art?" is in the Register,
12 August 1905, page 6g.
"Street Paving for Adelaide" is in the Observer,
19 October 1907, page 48c,
Register,
24 December 1907, page 4d,
11 and 16 January 1908, pages 6c and 4e.
A concern at the evils of street watering is expressed in the Register,
12 February 1909, page 3d.
"Tar and Oil to the Rescue" appears on
22 January 1910, page 15d; also see
15 March 1910, page 10a.
