For as long as the skies are clear and the temperature mostly bearable, there are few things you can be surer of than the fact you'll hear music pouring through the streets here in Liverpool. Busking has a central role in the music ecosystem throughout the country, and especially in a city as musical as ours. Whilst getting a gig can take weeks of pestering venues and even years to develop enough of a following and contact book to secure regularly, as long as you have an amp, instrument, and the balls to play to hundreds passing strangers, you can go out and get your music heard any day of the week. Earlier this year, Red Shutter Club spoke with Ali Horn who, after years of hard work, has been able to make music a full time occupation. During that interview he spoke about making his start in busking; 'I was shit, but it was quite a nice way of learning.'
When Ali first came to Liverpool seventeen years ago, he was working full time at the O2 Academy, steadily working his way up the ranks. A success story to some, but not to Ali. 'It's very, very hard to run a music venue, and have a mind. So I had to get out. I wasn't playing any music and I wasn't having much fun.' When he quit, he had a goal, to be a full time musician, he just had no idea how he was going to get there; 'so I just bought an amp and started busking.' The busking would allow Ali to make rent and play music, clearly with a marked degree of success given he was able to sustain himself from this for four to five years, then the pandemic hit; 'that was cool.'
'I was one of the forgotten [...], just sat in my flat, slowly spending all my savings.' With the help from friends and family and the charity Help Musicians UK, Ali was able to scrape by during this period until restrictions eased in the summer of 2020; 'You know when you could leave your house for a bit [...] that weird dream we all had.' With venues and shops still shut, Ali resumed his busking in Sefton Park. 'There'd be like ten people and some dogs, then next week, it'd be like twenty people and some kids and dogs.' As an isolated public became re-acquainted with grass and sunlight, Ali was one of a small group of musicians in Sefton welcoming the people of Liverpool back to the outside world and live music. 'There were a lot of people that were having really hard times mentally, and they'd come up to us and be like "this is the first time I've felt normal in eighteen months"'. One emotional moment had someone come up to Ali, saying he had been considering suicide that day, but through the music, found the strength to reconsider.
Now Ali finds his calendar consistently filled with gigs, playing at pubs and private events, achieving the dream of many musicians, to live off his work; 'I tend not to have to keep the streets clean like I used to.' It all started with a busking amp and enough determination to stay on course throughout the turbulence that came his way. Beyond a means of making ends meet and honing his craft, busking let Ali reach out to people who were struggling, reconnecting the city with that pesky power of music we all hear so much about. So, if you've been considering getting yourself out there, but have found the idea too daunting, take this as your excuse to give it a go, you never know what's on the other side.
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