Busking in croatia

**gav** · Mar-24-2005, 04:20 AM

Hrvatska

well, I'm definately the man for this question as I live in Zagreb.
First thing you need to know is that the coast is heaving with tourists during the summer. There are over a thousand islands off the coast, but only a few of them are large tourist centres.
Just about anywhere is workable, but having permision to work can be a bit hit and miss, especially as a tourist.
There is actually no law against it, but it will depend on the cop that approaches you as to whether or not he'll allow it. More likley than not he could be looking for a bribe. The hats can be ok, particulary if you learn some croatian, italian , german. You do need to have a strong show.Keep in mind that the Kuna(local currency) isn't worth that much and the coast can be expensive.
As an example of something you could expect, I'll tell a little story.
For 4 years now, I've been going to the island of Krk to work and play without any problems and getting pretty good hats. Last year after having moved here, I went again. 2 marketeers that have stalls not far from the performance area started to give me and the female fire performer who would perform after me very nasty looks. One night I decided not to go to work, and later I get a phone call from this girl and she says that the market guy came over after her show and threw her show rope(about 60euro worth) into the harbour, he then proceeded to threaten to throw her sound system in as well. Luckily it seems at this point he lost his nerve a little. So, the next day we go to talk to him about it and he justs starts swearing in croatian and makes threatening gestures. With the help of my wife(who is croatian) we go to every city department to get permission to perform there for 2 hours 4 nights a week, even the mayor gave us his written consent. I go down the next night to do my show, and the guy doesn't have the guts to do anything to me(he just liked to pick on 5ft women), but the next night I see him talking to a guy with a guitar, as soon as I start my show, this guy starts walking through my space playing and singing, I have a mike and amp, so I start asking the guy what he thinks he's doing, and he says it's a free country and he can do what he likes. This goes on for a while untill I explain to the audience that the mayor has given me permission and show it to them, I then ask the guy if he has permission, he lies for a while, and then eventualy gives up because it's obvious that 200 people don't like him much at this point. The next day we go to discuss the situation again with the market guy and amongst other things he threatens to kill us all if we ever return(this is in front of my wife and her 5yr daughter)
Of course the girl is in histerics becuase she really thinks this guy is going to kill her mummy and herself. We go to the police and make a complaint, the market people then claim that we damaged their stall(bullshit) The police do nothing !! Why? Because it was obvious that they were on the take !!
I continue to perform the next day, and without any other options, issue my own threats to the guys in question.
The next day a guy at city hall recomends we don't go back because the market guys have called the taxation police, personally I had nothing to fear from them, but knowing that the police can be as bent as a horse shoe, I didn't go back to work there.
That's the worst example of what could happen, mostly though it's not a problem. I will be going back this year with full residency rights, and as far as I'm concerned they can bring it on!! I'll be befriending my own police man!(it's just the way it's done here)
Don't be put off by this though, the coast is beautiful and if you don't spend nore than a few days in 1 place it's unlikely that you'll get hassled.
If you need more info, just let me know.
probably I'll see you at the juggling festival because my friend Jules is the orginiser and I'm the Croatian connection.
Ciao
Gav

Busking in croatia

Busking in croatia

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