London: the sound of the underground

Every day, as three and a half million commuters cross London on the city's Underground, the tube's buskers do their best to spread some musical magic.

For the past 20 years or so, musicians have been granted licences allowing them to perform at 40 authorised busking pitches within the network's stations.

Transport for London (TFL) is now on the hunt for fresh blood to add to their cohort of talented entertainers, holding live station auditions under the watchful eye of Ann Gavaghan, TFL's busking scheme manager.

Ann Gavaghan: "When you say "busker", people tend to think of, you know, a person with an acoustic guitar and as we've seen this morning, we've had a variety of people. We've had somebody with an electronic cello. We've had two people with saxophone, we've had a couple vocalists. So we've just had a mix of instruments. And that's one thing I really love about the scheme."

Despite their audiences being somewhat transient, musicians like singer songwriter Macy O jump at the chance to have the tunnels echo with their music.

Macy O: "I love performing for people, I love showing people my voice and I love just sharing music around. So that is definitely something that I'm very excited about. That's a really, like, exciting aspect of this whole thing for me."

A shortlisting process whittled down the over 480 applications from artists to a ten day schedule of 280 auditionees who are afforded the opportunity to showcase their skills in the second round. Performing live before a judging panel composed of seasoned musicians and station employees, they're hoping to capture the judges' attention as a gifted performer who can add variety to TFL's diverse mix of acts. This essential consideration prompted Michael Harvey's own application.

Michael Harvey: "Well, I personally think that you know quality is better than quantity. And with London being quite a very, very diverse city, it has a lot to give and offer hence why I think the underground system is trying to get a diversity of different acts and sounds and that's why here I am."

Whether these would be underground icons are wide-eyed students honing their craft or retirees seeking out a new career, the pull of live performance is a common bond that unites them. Rewarding their efforts with your loose change or a contactless contribution to show your appreciation also safeguards this tradition of public music going forward.

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