The Eight Million Audience

Modern street performing traces back to 1960s folk and blues. Examples include B.B. King playing in towns along The Mississippi River, Tracy Chapman playing in Harvard Square in Boston and Jewel traveling all across America with just a guitar and a knife. On the other hand, artists that have already reached fame like Bruce Springsteen or Bono still enjoy playing in the streets, sometimes for a cause and sometimes for the fun of it.
New York has a love/hate relationship with street performers. For more than a hundred years, since the opening of the first subway line in 1904, various administrations have tried to regulate or prohibit underground performances as well as on the streets, while artists and activists have reclaimed spaces and rights through court actions and by performing.
The subway network of New York is the beating heart of the city. Millions of people ride the trains everyday, in a routine made of chrome, cement and noise. The prowess of these musicians can knock the passersby from their routine, make them stomp their feet and miss the train, an electric pulse for the sleeping souls of commuters.
This short documentary portrays the talent and background of three musicians during brief encounters in the underground subway network of New York City in 2016.