Moon River

Hong Kong is not one of the great busking metropolises in the world. Not when you think of the great theatrical & busking festivals the world over - Edinburgh, Paris, Venice. Its true HK is a working town, where mostly it is a place where money talks (ouch I know). However there is one busking experience that left a deep impression on me here recently. For the purposes of this blog task, I was lucky we thought to take a photo.

On a Saturday night a loan busker filled the echo of a familiar tiled walk from the Central escalators to the Ferry Piers. He was cradling a wireless mic and equipped with a portable amp. When we first heard him, the slightly flat, thick Cantonese accent, the very very cheesy croon travelled up the tunnel. It was nevertheless, a heartfelt rendition of Moon River. Done with all the nuances Audrey brought to the song on the fire escape in Breakfast at Tiffanies. But when we got up close, we realised this lone performer was wearing a fabulous pair of glassless white rimmed retro glasses. Why, you might ponder?? I certainly did. But it fitted the mood perfectly. We laughed and were uplifted in a Hong Kong crazy kind of way. He laughed and seemed happy enough to pose for this photo. Of course I rewarded him his efforts and sheer audacity (read shameless bravery).

Yes it was a quintessential Hong Kong artistic moment. Offbeat and odd yet kind of funny and fairly bad!