“Rolf Hellat made a musical short film on a piano player and the beautiful moments of daily life around him. He studied film, and was a filmmaker in switzerland. He began playing the recorder at age 8 (just like everyone else), but didn’t stop (unlike everyone else), and was still taking lessons at 20 years old. He has played on the streets of Zurich with four other people, and loved it. The above movie is a musical short film about Colin Huggins, a piano player, and the beautiful moments of daily life around him in Washington Square Park New York.
The Busking Project: Why did you make this film?
Rolf Hellat: I wanted to do something on NY street performers. In Switzerland, there aren’t many buskers. It would help a city to be more lively if there were more performers on the streets. But in Switzerland it’s a long process — you have to pay, sign up, go to an office…it’s very complicated.
So, I took my camera and roamed around in NY. I fell into Washington Square Park. Every day there are simultaneously 5 buskers performing, dancers, musicians etc etc. The park is only 400m, but there are always people doing something there. I loved it. I was there for hours and hours, every day. I saw how the people react to it — it’s changing the whole ambience in the park.
Colin [the pianist in the above film] is living off that. He used to play 2 to 3 times a week, and it’s his income. He works a lot of hours, and moving the grand piano is a lot of effort. I also met an old man in a big band, playing jazz, playing two trumpets simultaneously. He’s the only one who has a lifetime permit in the park, he inherited it from the old band member, he has “lifetime permission” in the park.
TBP: Did anything happen that was unexpected?
RH: It was all unexpected, all the reactions. I didn’t think it happened like this. There was a guy dancing and turning around for ages. There were three drummers playing. I thought this guy was part of the band, dancing, shaking, turning, shivering, doing it for the whole piece of music. Everyone was already amazed, but with this shaking old man with a thin face, very skinny…and he wasn’t part of the band, he was just doing it! Even for the band it was unexpected.
TBP: How long did this take to film?
RH: It took maybe 3 days to edit, 8 days to film. The structure just happened, it was created in an editing room. I went in there not knowing how it would look in the end, I hadn’t worked it out beforehand.
TBP: Did the experience teach you anything new?
RH: I think the video is the best answer to the question, what does busking do in the public space? It should be supported in all ways — by government making it easy, and by people giving money; it’s an important thing to just give something.
Maybe people will be a little more aware of that after seeing this video, and appreciating what these buskers do.