In 1992 (pre-google days), I spent 3 months in college doing individual study/research on the historical documentation of women street performers. Not only was there nothing on women street performers in library archives, sans a tale or two of women troubadours from long ago, but there was a serious lack of documentation of street performer (or “busker�) history altogether. The lifestyles of street performers are romanticized or shamed, but the fact remains: there is a mystique around street performance since so few know who we are, why we became street performers, and why we keep doing it. Solo women street performers are especially mysterious to the mainstream, as we break gender stereotypes. I have started getting firsthand interviews with all the street performers I have known in my 25+ year career as a busker, so that more documentation will exist for students in the future. This article evolved from interviews with two infamous women street performers that I have shared venues with over the decades.

[ Kirsten Anderberg's Articles ]