If you could interview one group of street performers, who would it be?
The struggling artist looking for a break? How about the foreign-born musician just getting by? Or that painter up the street who sells the $400 prints?
For me, I’d have no hesitation answering that question: Acapella Soul. New York born and bred (although one of them was born in Philly), the members of this group all started singing for singing’s sake. And they got good. Soon, performing for dough on the sidewalks of the city became not just a living but a way of living, and a successful one, too. Man, I love these guys. I see them almost every day on the steps of the MET, joking around, no matter how hot it is. So it’s with some measure of glee I felt when sitting down to interview them on August 4th, 2010.
I made the above video for Undercover New York (see here and here for more Acapella Soul), where you can see a whole bunch of other performers I’ve filmed. But, as my first ever performer interview (getting my feet wet before The Busking Project properly kicks off) I thought I’d put it here, too. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and maybe next time I’ll film them without a massive truck crushing construction garbage in the background.
(Side note: for those of you looking to put good footage on youtube, I think I’ve finally found the right setting for my camera: mp4, H.264, not interlaced, 1280 x 720. Watch it on HD for the full effect.)