Plovdiv in Bulgaria is the country’s second-largest city with more than 341,000 residents, some of which have traditionally worked as musicians who play in the center of town to entertain visitors who travel to this area.
Now, if musicians want to continue to play there, they will have to prove they are qualified or they won’t be allowed to continue this pastime of entertaining visitors of the new designated zones for musicians who meet certain new restrictions now in place.
Musicians who wish to play for tourists or any who travel to the city will only be permitted to play in the main street if they have a music education diploma, according to the national public broadcaster. This is due to the fact that Plovdiv has been selected as a European Capital of Culture for 2019. Plovdiv was designated as a European Capital of Culture after it beat three other contenders.
The city council wants to do as other towns, such as Madrid, Spain, which now requires street musicians to audition before a panel of judges before they get a license to play in their town. However, Madrid does not require them to have a diploma like Plovdiv will start doing, making their decision more stringent.
The city council has now separated Plovdiv into three special zones, which makes the central shopping street, as well as Old Town, open only to musicians deemed qualified. The second zone is earmarked for those who don’t have a music education diploma, but they must have previously played at musical events or been entered in some sort of competition. Any other musicians must go somewhere else in Plovdiv.
The council says officials want to ensure any musicians who travel to Plovdiv are good enough to amuse the tourists or local residents that travel there to hear them play so the city won’t be embarrassed. Not all local musicians are happy about the new rules, but they will have to comply with them if they wish to play in the new zoned areas of the city.
The bottom line is that due to the city of Plovdiv being picked as a European Capital of Culture for 2019, there are new rules in place for local musicians to follow if they want to play for the visitors who travel to the city center. The new regulations include three new zones that restrict local musicians to have a music education diploma for the first, or previous appearances for the second, and the rest must stay in the third zone, which is elsewhere than the coveted city center.
