Mark Marczyk: We’re a 14-piece Balkan-klezmer-gypsy-party-punk super-band based in Toronto, Canada. We perform anywhere and everywhere and have gained renown and infamy in the city in a surprisingly short amount of time by, you guessed it, busking.

Busking is one of the cornerstones of city culture and music culture; it’s a public expression of a lifestyle of celebrating our diverse cultural backgrounds and sharing what makes them similar and unique. We play music from over 10 countries in Eastern Europe and our members are of an even wider array of backgrounds: Ukraine, France, Mexico, India, Holland, Portugal, etc.

Check out lemonbucket.com, on which you’ll find many videos of us busking or starting street parties in various spots.

Nick Broad: How long have you been busking, and why did you get involved?

Mark: In the winter of 2006, I found myself living in Lviv, Ukraine and searching for a community with which to connect. Of all things, i discovered an Argentinian tango community and almost immediately became immersed in their world. By the summer, I had learned enough to at least look like a tango dancer to an average tourist. In 2007, as soon as the weather was nice, we went out into the main square, put out a boombox with some piazzolla and danced. There wasn’t really an impetus to make money, just a desire to dance outside on the cobblestones after a winter cooped up in a dark basement dance hall.

Through tango-busking, I met some other buskers — a group of folk musicians calling themselves Ludy Dobri (“good people”). I got along with them almost immediately. They started to teach me Ukrainian folk music; I re-learned the violin (an instrument I hadn’t played since I was a child) and we started performing together.

Nick: Why is busking important?

Mark: Busking is important because it enriches the cultural landscape of the city. This is especially true of a city like Toronto, that is lauded for being the world’s most multicultural city, but that suffers from urban sprawl and ghettoization of its multi-ethnic citizens. Yes, one can see a great Brazilian foro band in a bar in little Portugal, or a Greek rebetiko band on the Danforth, but the odds of just happening upon these scenes are slim. And what’s more, these “world music” shows are often out of the average citizen’s price range. Buskers bring culture out into the street for everyone to experience and interact with and ask only for a token of appreciation, be it financial, verbal, physical, or spiritual.

Busking also helps young performers to understand themselves and their place within a cultural landscape (as opposed to a superficial music/performance “scene”). It teaches us how to interact with people, how not to interact with them, what people respond to and how they respond. This is invaluable not just in the realm of performance, but in terms of human interaction. Of course, the experience of busking is different for every performer and in every situation/location — it can’t just be passed down orally (which is why it’s important to just pull out your horn and wail!).

Nick: What’s difficult about it?

Mark: It’s hard to be slandered. It’s hard to be ignored. It’s hard to be asked to play a song and to not be able to play it. It’s hard to play in the cold.

Nick: Anything else? What’s in your future?

Mark: I’m making a short film. The premise is that a girl walks into a pawnshop and picks up a clarinet that doesn’t have a reed. She blows into it and a canary chirps. She blows a second time and a door chime sounds. She’s so excited that she buys it and goes out into the city to play. For the rest of the film she explores the city, thinking that all of its sounds are coming from her instrument. Members of Lemon Bucket are placed in various locations and act as her imagination (i.e. What she hears). I’m really excited about it – it’s in the editing stages and should be completed by the New Year.