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Meg LaGrande If you walk down Grafton Street this
weekend, there’s a good chance you’ll find hundreds of people huddled around Brown Thomas, applauding and taking videos on their phone. At the centre of this congregation isn’t the latest season display, but Meg LaGrande, a commanding busker who’s bewitched crowds with her unique fusion of trad, electronica and pop. Originally from Canada, LaGrande moved to Ireland to pursue her passion for Celtic music. She had quit playing lucrative Celtic shows around the world to concentrate on songwriting, but was struggling to gain any traction. All that changed after a chance encounter with the Pierce Brothers, a band that made their career from busking in Melbourne. She met the group after performing a shaky gig in the Róisín Dubh, and over a long night of drinking, they invited her to play with them the next day at Sea Sessions in Donegal. “It was so validating, because I’d been trying to make this shift to performing and songwriting for a year and a half, and I was going nowhere.” Inspired by her whirlwind weekend with the Pierce Brothers, LaGrande committed herself to busking in Dublin. “It was very stressful. I was very bad for a very long time. I remember at the end of the first month, I was surviving on food from the Hare Krishnas. But after a while I not only had enough money to pay my rent, but a little bit to put away to record my own music.” Since then, LaGrande has continued to blossom as a performer, thanks in no small part to the tutelage of other professional buskers who traveled to Ireland to play on Grafton Street. These musicians taught her the importance of claiming her space and creating an atmosphere. Unfortunately, many of these buskers have been driven out of the city by noise complaints to the council. LaGrande is very outspoken on this issue, and believes that by-laws on noise levels need to change. “I would not be the performer I am today, had I not met these musicians. We need professional buskers to be drawn to this street and set an example for our local musicians. You can’t be what you can’t see.” LaGrande is wonderfully candid about her experiences in the Dublin busking scene. When asked if she’s encountered much sexism amongst her peers, she answers with only the slightest degree of trepidation. “We’re… a very good community. But there are inequalities that come from existing in a male dominated industry. In the last year especially, I’ve realised I’ve had to masculinize myself to be taken seriously. When I meet an agent, I always have my leather jacket on, because I feel like more of a lad subconsciously. My hair will be up and my voice drops. You often think ‘please don’t sexualise me, please think of me as a capable session player first.’” If LaGrande is frank about some of the issues with busking in Dublin, it’s because she views Grafton Street as a precious resource for musicians, something to be protected tooth and nail. “It’s incredible, it’s changed my career. It’s the validation and encouragement you get from complete strangers. I remember I did one of those televised talent shows and I was completely shafted by one of the judges. It would have destroyed me if I’d done it before busking. But after the show, I had a little moment where I laughed, because I didn’t believe it. I have an overwhelming gratitude for this place.” 24