Setting our world record in 2009
14 June 2009, what a day!
The Musequality World Busk day started as the midday sun moved over the international date line to Tauranga, New Zealand, where Barbershop chorus Light Relief, resplendent in colourful waistcoats, busked for hospital patients.
Gypsy jazz jangled outside Kobe railway station in Japan 
; students in Ban Mok Cham, our newest project performed for visiting students in Thailand three violinists entertained holiday-makers at a beach resort in India.
Bang on the equator, the M-Lisada Brass Band in Uganda experienced the hottest heat, giving the hottest beat. Johannesburg jangled with own compositions and covers; the Hout Bay Music Project kept Cape Town happy.
As the sun toppled over Europe, a violin, viola and cello played in Crete; Rotary Club members in Naples attended a concert; and 60 people sung in a hymnathon on the quarterdeck of HMS Illustrious in the Baltic Sea, in thick fog.
England, Scotland and Walesrocked, popped, jammed, chorused, fluted, brassed, bagpiped and orchestrated with soloists (aged eight, nine, 10, 12 and upwards), bands and orchestras plus a silly dance dreamed up by David Juritz for those of us in Chiswick mad enough in the midday sun to take part in his speed busk (and in 24.2°C which, for us, is pretty hot)
Three hours and 35 minutes later the strings on Danny’s guitar cable froze, Paul’s saxophone froze, Tony’s fingers froze and Riet froze – the Antarctic Minkes busked as the temperature dropped from -8°C to -15°C in Antarctica. There’s proof on Youtube .
Five hours of jazz filled the air in Catete favela, Brazil. Five acts in Stanley, Falkland Islands , were witnessed by their guitar-playing chief police officer.
Noon hitting the east coast of North America brought rock, Latin American classical guitar, Bach, Brahms and world music for the harp. After Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Boulder, Colorado, came the west coast and the last busk of the day, a battle between California and Seattle.
The last person to register a busk did so four minutes before noon chimed – in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, UK.
We had no idea what to expect from this, our first world busk, and while we can’t yet do a headcount, we think we had buskers in 48 cities or towns, in 20 countries in all seven continents. A planet-sized thank you to all of you
First row: Barbershop Chorus Light Relief, New Zealand. Falkland Islands’ police chief
witnesses Vocalise with Shirley Adams Leach MBE. Angela Amato’s Sirenide for Musequality, Italy.
Second row:Tutti Flutti, Chiswick. Heidi Goldsmith, South Kensington. Taro Hakase with
London Tango Quintet, St Pancras International. Senior officers as Peruvian pipers,
HMS Illustrious. Primary school violinists, Woking.
Third row: London: Craig Ogden, London Tango Quintet. Royal College of Music Junior
string quartet. Sam Meredith and Nick Booth. Jocie Juritz awaits speed busk. Rob Juritz.
Wind Chamber Orchestra, St Pancras International.
Fourth row: Mark Fennell, Isle of Wight. Royal College of Music Junior wind quartet.
Kensington Symphony Orchestra beside the Thames. Goan picnickers join the busk, Middlesex
Fifth row: Nine year old Sarah Gordon, London. Kier the Street Musician, Weymouth.
Barbershop Capital Chorus, London. Guitarist Simon Green, London. Acephale the magician,
Seattle. The Wandering Skewers, Padstow
What you've told us
“We had a ball! The sun was shining, the wind dropped down, although there were still frozen fingers on instruments, and we played from 11.45am until 12.35pm in front of a very appreciative audience. We raised £223! Still to add any sponsor money to that of course but we were really pleased."
“We had a Ball!! Can't wait to find out about the overall results. Ready to Prep for Next Year!"
“We had a good time busking. Haven't done anything like that for a long time. Everything went well. Even the weather was on our side."
"Well that was fun!!! The response was wonderful ... All in all it was the kids who loved it the most ... they just stayed the whole time and listened ... you gotta love them!"
"We're all already making plans for how to do it bigger and better next year"
See the busks on YouTube
We’re thrilled so many of our buskers had their busks videoed. They are now on our YouTube page, in the main section or in favourites. They are all lovely but we particularly recommend you watch two remarkable busks:
- the coolest buskers on the planet, the Antarctic Minkes
- the ship’s company of HMS Illustrious who held a hymnathon for the world record on the Sunday as well as a whole day of busking the previous Wednesday.
A week of busking
Though most buskers turned out for our record-setting busk, many busked on other days or, in the case of Michael Partington, Seattle, (right) and Amery Hill School, Alton, everyday.
The Royal College of Music Junior Department drew crowds in South Kensington
tube station as did Capital Chorus, a Barbershop quintet; Festive Flutes flattered the City of London; Taro Hakase stole the show in St Pancras International one day ;
two days later Alan Rusbridger, editor of UK newspaper The Guardian, dusted off his clarinet to play there in a wind chamber group.
Fiddles predominated with old time favourites and French folk songs in Victoria, Canada; a string quartet in Paris, France; classical and jazz violin in Dorchester, England. Solo guitarists, singer songwriters, Chiswick Baroque, Tutti Flutti, a bassoonist, a saxophonist and others joined in. Thank you, all.
Media coverage
If you generated, or saw/heard, media coverage about the busk please tell us where and when and send us cuttings. Meanwhile here are two we are particularly pleased about:
The Times, UK, 10th June
There’s no business like snow business – and it’s all in a good cause. More
BBC World News, 5th to 8th June
Clips of a few busk rehearsals were broadcast around the world.
