Thank You For The Music, Maryjane

 

Let me introduce you to Maryjane!

I had the absolute pleasure of speaking to Maryjane on Argyle Street about her 8 years of experience in busking. Surrounded by people filming her performance, it’s clear that she’s a favourite amongst Glasgow's passers-by. A combination of her melodic voice and excellent showmanship are what enticed myself and a crowd of others to stop what we were doing and listen.

Inspired to start busking after seeing Daniel Docherty performing on Glasgow’s streets, Maryjane only knew three Taylor Swift songs to begin with. She quickly realised that to establish herself as a recognisable street musician, she needed to learn a variety of songs from different genres. Fast-forward to now, Maryjane can flawlessly cover anything from Lewis Capaldi to Hamilton songs (musical theatre being her favourite genre to perform). 

A snippet of Maryjane's busking

Pre-covid, Maryjane would perform in various venues across Glasgow and Edinburgh (such as O’Neill’s and The Hall, Sauchiehall St) as well as performing for weddings. Due to the restrictions placed on music venues in Scotland, she is now spending 4 or 5 days a week busking to allow her to continue her livelihood.

When asked of the effect that the pandemic has had on herself and other musicians in Glasgow, she has found that even musicians who had only performed indoor gigs before have taken to the streets to share their music. A benefit that she has noticed is that listeners are more appreciative of street music than ever before, especially since street acts are the only source of music available in public.  

The Scottish music industry as a whole, however, is not faring so well. Maryjane enlightened me on how the pandemic has brought the industry to its knees, with no gig opportunities and a shocking lack of support available for self-employed artists. Having had weddings cancelled and no way of knowing when she can gig again, Maryjane alluded to how Scottish music promotion companies appear to have a monopoly which is making it difficult for new talent to get their name out there. If there is to be a silver lining from the coronavirus pandemic, she hopes that artists will no longer face exploitation and music venues can book gigs directly through the acts themselves.

I highly recommend that you check out Maryjane’s music for yourself; you can like her Facebook page, follow her Instagram (@music.maryjane) and look out for her street performances on Glasgow’s busiest streets.

Thanks for reading!

C x