Top: A Venezuelan music group performs traditional folk music at a street concert. Above: Kung Chi-shing and his band members perform at a street concert. Photos Provided to China Daily

Mr Funny performs in a Mong Kok street.

Buskers are a part of daily life in cities such as London and New York. But in the crowded streets of Hong Kong, they are not welcomed. In fact, most people wish they would just go away. Kane Wu reports.

Amid the swirling crowds at Time Square in Causeway Bay, every Sunday afternoon, stands an odd looking man in a black hat and black and white striped T-shirt, performing with the diabolo or doing balloon tricks. He calls himself, Mr Funny, which explains the goofy grin.

He's Andrew So Chun-chau, 50, the founder and principal artist of Hong Kong Funny Clown Theatre. His evolution into Mr Funny started in a not so funny way - when he lost his job as a goldsmith - to outsourcing. That was back in the early 1990s. So went to work for the Hong Kong Ocean Park Circus. After years of training and performing, he decided to get off on his own. He created the identity of "Mr Funny" in 2005 and started performing in the streets.

"There is no street art atmosphere in Hong Kong," So says. "However I feel that the citizens have great interest in street shows, despite its slow development."

"Mr Funny" performs every Saturday and Sunday in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok. Each show normally lasts 15 minutes but it can always be flexible. "The best thing about street performing is that it's all up to you where to perform and how long the show lasts. It's all free," he says.

Street arts performances which enrich the cultural life of the community and the arts scene in our city are permissible, so long as they do not compromise public safety and a license is not required, according to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). However, the free environment doesn't seem to engage artists to display their talents in the street. You could just count the number of street artists on the finger of one hand.

There's simply not enough space for them, says So. In Sai Yeung Choi Street South in Mong Kok, where So performs regularly, there are over 30 booths advertising different products, with showgirls singing or dancing. "All you can hear is nothing but boom boom boom," said So, who squeezes in a little corner of the street to play his silent tricks, "There is only one word to describe it - mess!"

That Hong Kong reality earned Mr Funny a brush with the law. Late in April, 2010, he was charged with obstructing pedestrians while performing his usual tricks in Great George Street, Causeway Bay.

"It usually was the nearby shops that complained to the police. They think you get in the way of their customers," So says. He is used to getting constant warnings from mall security or police. Whenever the audience numbers over 100, he starts winding up his show, preparing to retreat. This time, he wasn't so lucky.

He was picked up and charged. The Hong Kong Eastern Magistrate threw out the charge, however, ruling that the Basic Law guarantees the right to engage in literary and artistic performances and that So's act did not constitute an offense and it did not present a danger to pedestrians.

"It is of great significance that I won the case," So said. "It proves that street performing is a recognized form of art. It is not a crime. We earned respect."

"Hong Kong society can tolerate noises of bulldozers at construction sites, but they cannot stand a single note of music in the streets, because bulldozers represent economic development, while music doesn't mean anything tangible," Kung Chi-shing, veteran Hong Kong musician who voiced support for So while he was on trial, commented.

The vocalist for Box Band, who has been engaged in developing multi-media forms of music after obtaining music degrees from the US, launched a series of street concerts in May, 2010, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC). The concerts, held on one or two Fridays every month, are the first of their kind in Hong Kong. They feature four or five musicians or groups drawn from various genres, staging free public performances at the open space outside the HKAC venue in Wan Chai.

The concert keeps updating its repertoire as Kung aspires to promote as many local artists as possible and bring a unique concert experience to the public. In two hours, the audience, that is, passers-by on the street, might enjoy a combination of bossa nova, rock and even the traditional local narrating art of naamyam. As the sole organizer of the concerts, Kung spends a lot of time scouting for new talent, listening to demo tapes from singers and bands.

"The meaning of art is to stimulate your thoughts and emotions. It is not to satisfy your expectations," he says. "This kind of repertoire, which nobody else has tried before, is what makes my concerts stand out. Hong Kong people are so used to a homogeneous life. They eat the same food, wear the same dress, and listen to the same music. I would like to challenge them."

The most interesting thing he has experienced at the concerts, Kung says, are the "conflicting yet complementary sounds" of the music and the traffic passing by.

Kung never makes any PR effort for his concerts. He announces them only on his Facebook page. Now, he's got some 2,600 friends on Facebook and he expects a few hundred spectators to turn out at each concert. Sometimes the number reaches 1,000, if enough pedestrians decide to stay and watch.

Kung himself has also become a "godfather" for local artists. He receives dozens of demo tapes and recommendations every week and cnngo.com, a lifestyle website under Cable News Network, has asked him to create a list of the top 20 most influential street artists in town.

All this attention, however, does little to make putting on the shows any easier. "The government has never thought about making full use of public spaces," Kung says. He had to apply for an entertainment license for his street concerts to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. "Why did I have to go through the same procedure as the meatball sellers in the streets to raising a concert?"

It took him quite a while to find a suitable location for his concerts which "have to be in the town center but not too close to residential areas". Now that the HKAC is willing to provide its open space for the concerts, Kung still has to deal with constant complaints from nearby hotels. "And I had to compromise by taking heavy metal music out of the repertoire, otherwise the grand hotels would freak out," Kung added.

Another problem is funding. The concerts are all free and have no sponsorship. Kung says he needs to apply to the Social Welfare Department if he wants to accept outside sponsorship and that the procedures are "very complicated". He did manage to get one sponsor though - the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC). The council has a sponsorship program for local artists who qualify after evaluation. Normally, after filling out forms and writing reports, artists have to wait a year before they get funding, of not more than HK$10,000. "I can only pay the artists a few hundred bucks after each show, which is really not much," Kung says.

The LCSD, after consulting relevant committees of the District Councils, launched a six-month pilot "Open Stage" program in July, 2010, a month after So's case was concluded. Individuals or groups selected from auditions will have the chance to perform at designated outdoor locations (namely, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre piazza, the Sha Tin Town Hall plaza and the Kwai Tsing Theatre plaza), with relatively high pedestrian flow and an enabling setting on weekends and public holidays. Each show should not last for more than two hours. By the end of 2010, the scheme had received over 70 applications and presented more than 80 performances encompassing various art forms.

A student of Kung's once performed at the Open Theater and someone complained to the police about the unsettling drumbeat. The show would have been cut off if staff from the LCSD had not intervened and explained to the police. "This is such a shame," Kung says.

"So far Hong Kong people have decided not to accommodate street arts. That's the liberal choice of Hong Kong people. If they do (ban street shows), they will sacrifice other aspects of city life," Ho Chi-ping, former secretary of home affairs who has also chaired the HKADC comments.

While he was still in office, Ho says, he recommended that art performances be permitted in MTR stations during non-rush hours. He hasn't received a positive response to this day.

He adds that the government is not taking street art into consideration in its land use planning any time soon. "In Hong Kong, the land is premium, and all the planning parameters are based on people moving in the streets," he tells China Daily. "If you permit people stopping in the street, either to appreciate art performing or to sell things or to have discussions, you will create havoc and a disturbance to traffic."

"Mr Funny", on the other hand, feels that street art could become the city's culture and tourism hook. "If we have more than 30 different shows going on in the street, it could become a tourism spot. Cantonese opera, magic show, dumb show, all at your choice," he imagines.

"Hong Kong's attitude is this, if you need anything, just go pay for the best. If we need top artists, we just spend money to invite them to town. Don't put the cart before the horse!" So said.

One piece of good news from the LCSD at least: the "Open Stage" program is now extended for another six months until June 30.

Top: Artist Qiu Hong performs at a street concert. Above: Art group The Puccini Project performs at a street concert.

(HK Edition 01/20/2011 page4)