Meet some of Queenstown’s buskers
If you’re strolling along Queenstown’s picturesque waterfront any day of the week, you’ll get to enjoy a sweet show from one of the many street performers dotted around. From opera singers and jugglers to singing dogs, hula hoopists, talented musicians and dancers – there’s much to see and enjoy.
One of the best parts of enjoying the buskers is that you never know what you’re going to get. In addition to a rotating door of performers coming and going with the seasons and to suit their lifestyle, the artists regularly mix up their shows. Each day the buskers meet to agree on where they’ll set up and what time slot they have to ensure a fair deal for all.
Many of those we’ve spoken to agree that we’ve got some amazing artists performing in Queenstown, offering world-class entertainment and promoting a lovely atmosphere along the beautiful lakefront. We’re a little more chilled out than other parts of the world, and the transient nature here means buskers get a fresh audience every day to showcase their talents to.
Claire and Paul are behind duo, Choice, which formed in Queenstown in 2003. They’re seasoned performers that have played to audiences in Australia, NZ, Ireland, South America and England. Since starting out along the lakefront, they now work fulltime as musicians and have been in and out of Queenstown – they both agree that this is one of the best spots in the world to perform.
“We do events and festivals, but the busking is one of the things we enjoy the most,” says Paul. “And we get to play our own original music – we’re able to sell CDs and get our name out there. We get festival gigs, and special gigs out of busking – people see us on the street – and we do markets and things like that,” adds Claire.
Paul says “It’s for community, mainly, for me and Claire – we’re never down there on our own. There’s always at least three or four food carts, jewellery sellers, people selling their own drawings or photographs, and we all support each other. It’s kind of like a market, I guess. You all look forward to seeing each other each day – they’re your colleagues. When we go down there’s a real nice buzz about with heaps of people on holidays. We’re making a living doing something we really enjoy.”
“You’ve got flights of international tourists coming here directly – tens of thousands of them walking past every day. We’ve got a real hotspot for showing our art, or whatever you do. It’s a real, sort of, catchment area,” says Claire.
Simon West is the man behind the moniker of Juggling Jack Flash. He’s a circus performer from NZ who specialises in juggling, acrobatics and magic, and puts on a 45-minute show. He started busking in Queenstown back in 2004 – he was part of the local fire spinning troupe who were involved with events around town such as Winter Festival. After this, he got a job as a bartender with Cirque du Soleil travelling for a year, which inspired him to go to circus school. After becoming a full-time street performer in 2011, he’s now performed all over the world and will be spending summers in Queenstown.
“It’s one of my favourite spots to work in the world – even if it wasn’t my hometown,” says Simon. “Historically, the evenings have been time for the circle shows and musicians take out the day. In summer, it gets busy – we get, sometimes, nine circle shows in town. My character is called Juggling Jack Flash and I have a specific interest in club juggling, which a lot of people refer to as pins. I have a Guinness World Record – juggling blindfolded on a rola bola – so I break my world record, which is what the whole show is built around. It’s mostly comedy – I tell terrible dad jokes, which are the ones that seem to fly on the street the best.
“It’s one of the best jobs that you could ever have – people clap and cheer for you before you’ve even done your job – there’s not many industries you could get into where that happens, or where they’ll clap for you at all. It’s great. I get to go out and share my passion with people passing on the street, make their days a little better, share a few jokes with them, and show them some things they’d otherwise never normally see.”
Jodie, better known as Hoopsadaisy, is a newer member of Queenstown’s busking scene, starting last Christmas. A few weeks after launching her show, she had the privilege of working with Fraser Hooper, a clown and British director, who helped her to refine some elements of her show. She’s a clown – a quirky character who loves 90’s music, hip hop and hula hoops. Her show features a dash of comedy and some daredevil stunts. Originally a primary-trained teacher, she’s recently taken the plunge and started performing full time, which she describes as exhilarating, and she finds herself humming with excitement after each performance.
“I just started performing and I’ve had such an amazing experience in Queenstown that I’m leaving to go to the UK to attend the Edinburgh Fringe Festival,” says Jodie. It’s been a really amazing platform for me as a performer, and to just follow my dreams. The other street performers have been really encouraging because I’m quite a newbie, in terms of giving me advice and also helping with the rules – I know Simon and some of the other performers that have been busking for a while had spoken to the council about what that looks like and how we organise ourselves.
“It’s really interesting because it puts you in touch with a lot of the store people that are there in the afternoon. When we go down in the evening, we get chatting with them about the streets and how their day has been – it’s really nice to connect with people in the community, not just other buskers, and people that come in and out of Queenstown as well. Queenstown is the place I now call home and I look forward to coming back with a bigger and better show for the Christmas holidays.”
So now that you know a few of the friendly waterfront faces, why not swing by and say hey? You’re guaranteed to find some whimsical fun, have a great time, and help these entertainers continue doing what they love – giving us all a bit of enjoyment.
