Devine Buskers adapt with virtual busking fundraisers

In early 2020, the Devine Buskers, which is made up of eight singers and musicians, had their monthly performances all booked up. They were looking forward to performing throughout the year at a variety of popular venues in locations such as Maidenhead, Marlow, Windsor and Reading.

Sadly, however, Covid-19 put a stop to these plans. The last time they were able to physically all perform together was the Maidenhead Riverways grand opening in March.

One of the founding members of Devine Buskers, Richard Johnson, told us how they didn’t let the pandemic stop them doing what they love and how they have risen to the technical challenges of virtual busking!

“Performing all together is a real highlight for everyone. We have so much fun and of course we do it all for a charity that is close to all our hearts, Alexander Devine.

It was so disappointing that because of the pandemic we could not come together each month to perform. However, soon after lockdown began, we decided that we needed to come up with a plan b for the Devine Buskers! After years and years of performing together, we didn’t want to just stop. So we decided to keep the momentum going with weekly zoom meetings and rehearsals. Having seen other choirs and musicians going virtual, we thought we would have a go ourselves!

We found out pretty quickly that it was not that simple! To record a song when we were all remote, presented a huge challenge. Firstly the backing track had to be produced and then each individual singer has to listen to the track whilst singing and filming. As you can imagine, mistakes would be easily spotted so numerous takes had to be made.

Then the really clever bit is weaving each recording together so that the timing has a semblance of order. We were lucky to have the fabulous talents of our cajon-player and vocalist, Steve Archer who worked his magic using some special video editing software!

Our first lockdown virtual performance was ‘Love Train’. We were hugely encouraged to see the donations being made on our Just Giving page and the positive reactions from friends, family and others in the community. So now we have plans to produce more tracks until we are able to meet up in public and busk again at our favourite venues.”

You can watch the Devine Buskers’ busking performances on our YouTube channel:

Devine Buskers present ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’

Devine Buskers presents ‘Love Train’

To make a donation, please visit their Just Giving page