City Council Debates Street Musician Drums

Cultural bias, religious freedom and the possible health effects of public drumming were all at issue during a City Council hearing on street musicians earlier this week.

The hearing, which began Monday night and continued into Tuesday morning, was marked by strong feelings from performers, drummers and area residents alike.

The Council considered moves to ban unaccompanied drummers from certain areas of Harvard Square, to ban all performers from Winthrop Park and to reduce the distance at which the acceptable decibel level for the performers is measured. All of the measures were voted down, leaving the problem of loud music in the Square unsolved--and many residents and performers unsatisfied.

Harvard Square residents say they will gain peace and quiet in their homes if the Council lowers the acceptable decibel levels. As it is, one resident complained, the drumming is like "a worm on the brain," which "over time can kind of affect some one's mental health."

And even many street musicians support volume restrictions, which they say would allow solo flutists to coexist with rock bands on weekends.

But councillors were uneasy about banning drums, or with doing anything that would interfere with the workings of Harvard Square's streetside concert venues.

"I cannot support the singling out of this particular instrument," said Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72, who fell just short of accusing the anti drum forces of "cultural arrogance."

That was left to another drum fan, who said that banning the percussion instruments infringed on the religious and spiritual freedom of Africans, and asserted that "drums are the heartbeat of the planet."

Councillor Edward N. Cyr said street people to the Square on weekend nights. Many of those music lovers, he said, are valuable patrons of local bookstores and restaurants.

"it is a significant and important cultural activity that is going on in the city of Cambridge," Cyr said.

"I wouldn't want this marvelous resource to change in some fundamental way," Reeves said.

Almost everyone at the meeting agreed that existing restrictions on street musicians are poorly enforced. According to one councillor no street performers have received tickets for volume violations in the past two years.

With the Council adjourned for the summer, the issue will remain unresolved until councillors reconvene on August 3.

"We haven't gotten to the right solution yet," said concerned resident Lillian Greeley, who calls the drum sound "unhealthful."