Cape Town - Buskers fill the streets with welcoming sounds, hoping the public will provide a small donation for their efforts.
But how much of the festive spirit are these performers of the street actually feeling – financially speaking that is?
The answer is – very little.
This is according to four buskers from Cape Town, who always seem to be buzzing with enthusiasm, although that does not echo how bad the year has been on their pockets.
Sydney Holo is 64 , and has been busking for about 30 years. “Every day I take a taxi to get here I’m here to play music because I sometimes get jobs here in town.”
He explained that there were opportunities for people to recognise his talents and offer him a chance to perform at parties.
However, he added that it had been tough this year, especially over the festive season – “The business now is quiet” – and said that he earned between R50 to R90 a day, still having to take into consideration travelling costs of R30.
Sophe Nkinqa, 60, from Crossroads said:“One day it’s R100, the next day it’s R60, the day after that it’s no money.”
She said the festive season did not necessarily mean more profit.
Nkinqa buys “electricity for the house, soap for the washing” which she says is deducted from the roughly R500 a week she might earn.
A fellow busker, Kurt Siegfried, 46, from Observatory, who travels by bus or taxi around Cape Town, said that increased tourism had not helped him.
“This whole thing of tourism has been a nightmare for me, I get very well supported by Capetonians,”
Although, Siegfried explained there was satisfaction from busking, despite low donations.
“It’s not really realistic to make a living busking. It’s something one does as a sort of gift. You go out there to share your talent; I mean music is more vocational than anything.”
Felix Chughuda, 45, lives in a shelter in Woodstock and comes all the way from Tanzania.
He commented on the festive period and his earnings: “Gone dead. Dead this year, last year this time I was rich but now it’s dead.”
He said it was affecting everybody not just him.
“Before I used to get like normal R300, but now one day I sit here I get R2.”