busker \BUS-kur\, noun: A person who performs an art in public places for donations of money.

Also referred to as street performers, traveling musicians, street entertainers, circle acts, street musicians, street theater, sidewalk, street and subway musicians, minstrels and bards.

Buskers are that rare breed of street entertainer in search of the best place or "pitch" to perform their artistic endeavor. Buskers can be dancers, mimes, artists, clowns, magicians, musicians, puppeteers, jugglers, acrobats, tumblers, storytellers, and living statues. They can be sword swallowers, balloonists, fortune tellers, contortionists, escape artists, rope walkers, fire eaters, and just plain weird.

A busker's stage can be anywhere from fairs and festivals to trains and cablecars. Depending on their motivation, these street performers sometime travel the globe with their impromptu acts reaching far-away lands and peoples with their unique form of entertainment. In some cultures, they are considered a living curiosity. With a great "pitch", buskers can easily amass huge audiences with thousands of people entertained.

Jugglers on unicycles defiy gravity by keeping several balls in the air at once. The street musicians feverishly belt out the songs for all to hear. Mimes may thoughly captivate a whole city block with their antics without saying a single word.

A strange type of busker is a one-man band usually consisting of strings, drums, cymbals, horns, bells, and whistles. Although rare in the Americas, they are much more prevalent in Europe, Canada, and Australia.

Some buskers are totally unique in their performance. One street performer is known for entertaining with a 10 foot pole. Another busker roller-skates wearing a turbin and playing guitar.

A handicapped artist is painting with his feet in Lisbon while another busker is busy doing headstands on broken shards of glass in Barcelona. Snake charmers still perform their shows in the streets of New Delhi, fireblowers are still belching smoke in Istanbul, and the hurdy gurdy man is still cranking out the tunes in Vienna.

Right now, all over the world, buskers are busy performing their show living a life of wonder outside the office cubicle and down the carefree highway. They are actively presenting their art totally "live". Some buskers perform all day, everyday during the season.

But make no mistake about it. Street performers are usually highly skilled in their craft by several years. Reliant on their artistic skills, buskers can often be found voyaging to distant lands performing along the way. This is their nature doing what the real busker loves...traveling, performing, passing-the-hat, and counting - forever lost in the search...of that elusive perfect pitch.

Busker Central is a busker and street performer reference site and a non-profit co-operative promoting busking around the globe.

Made by and for street performers, the Busker Central photo gallery displays one of the largest amounts of art and pictures.

The Busker Central video gallery hosts hundreds of street performers in reference videos freely available to download for your educational & viewing pleasure.

The convenient Video-of-the-Month highlights everything from International Busker Festivals to individual and group presentations and even interviews and social commentary.

You will need to join Busker Central to watch videos and read our special Insights and How to's on busking and street performing. Busker Central is 100% spam-free!

Street performers new and old can benefit from the worldwide busker videos, photos, songs, comics, and more!