Signs of spring began to show in Washington Park as sounds of friendly chattering, children giggling and the skateboards hitting the pavement echoed throughout the park on a recent April day.

Hidden in the cacophony was a distinct sound of music. As you follow the music, you come across two musicians, Caleb Hickman, 23, who is from Brooklyn, and Shaheen Malick, 30, who hails from Manhattan, under the Washington Square Arch.

The occasional tourist, photographer or child stops to watch the duo, mesmerized by Caleb’s ability to freely pick his acoustic guitar while Shaheem’s body sways instinctively with his bow as he plays the cello.

“I like the reactions from kids. You can see genuine interest,” said Malick.

“Some of those children are maybe seeing a cello for the first time and are like what the fuck is that?” Hickman added.

“Even if their parents are dragging them away, they’re like ‘What is that?’ and it feels good. I think we’re putting good sounds out,” said Malick.

Washington Park is just one of the many sites in New York City where you can find musical performers who play on the street known as buskers. New York is ranked fourth in the world’s best busking cities.

“There’s so many people and musicians, and it’s always been the hub for culture and inventing new culture. Most things we consider cool is coming out of the city,” said Hickman. “I was born here and stayed until I was 15, but I left because of drug-related addiction issues, and then I got into some art colleges. But the reason I choose to live here is I think it’s the best place to be if you are in a band.” “I feel like here, everybody’s just trying to coexist and there’s so many people just trying to do their own things. And I’m just trying to exist with people that I like and who push me and challenge me,” said Malick, who hails from Manhattan.

The two musicians enjoy taking advantage of good weather to busk in the park, but their sessions are often cut short by Parks Department workers kicking them out.

“We get kicked out of Washington Park every time because you’re allowed to busk but not with amplifiers. So I probably play for an hour or two before a park ranger tells us to leave. We could get permits, but we haven’t yet. I don’t know why. I guess maybe because it’s fun,” said Hickman.

“We’re afraid of the bureaucracy,” said Malick, with a hint of a sarcastic chuckle.

When they do get to play, some days they’ll have a small crowd gathering while other days they find themselves lacking an audience.

“It depends on the day. Sometimes it’s discouraging when you’re killing it and no one gets to hear it. And then it’s weird because sometimes you feel like you suck and then people are giving you applause,” said Hickman. “The other day I was in Washington Park, and this guy was drawing me as a cartoon. I got to take that home and put that on my wall. That day I made two dollars, but that drawing was so worth it.”

“I think one of the hardest things is we don’t have a very supportive society towards the arts. Being a musician is not encouraged as it should be. Music is an art, it’s a reflection of ourselves and our world,” Malick added. “For me, that’s been the main challenge because I wanted to be a musician full-time, but I have to eat.”

Even though the two musicians play in a band, they choose to spend their free time playing for the public.

“I busk [in parks and subway stations] because it’s practice. Why would I practice in my room when I could potentially be getting paid to practice and meet cool people like yourself and get sunlight and enjoy the day and make people happy,” said Hickman.

Hickman and Malick are taking advantage of living in the city to grow their career in music and establish a following. Their musical influences include Vulfpeck, Donovan, Nina Simone, and J.S Bach.

“I have a band called ‘Maddog.’ It’s me, my best friend, and whether he likes it or not [Shaheem’s] kind of in the band,” said Hickman.

The story of the band goes back further than this trio effortlessly working together to create their own sound.

“I was in Boston with my old band The Perfect Trip. It was me, my friend Andrew and my girlfriend. We were together for three years... and we made three records. Eventually, me and my girlfriend broke up so that was the end of the band. I moved in with Andrew, and I made good friends with his roommate Max. We started writing songs together and had a better musical chemistry than with Andrew,” said Hickman. “We came to the conclusion that Andrew wasn’t going to be able to work with us if we wanted to move to New York and make it happen. That’s unfortunate, but the art always comes first.”

Hickman, writer and guitarist for his band, shares that his hope when playing music is to incite bliss within his listeners through stimulative and innovative music.

“I like psychedelic folk which is psychedelic music that I like to say is baked into the music itself. It doesn’t rely on effect pedals, aesthetics, or posters. It’s just inventive and draws from lots of different genres,” said Hickman. “I guess I want to give you goosebumps. And potentially make you cry in a happy way. If I can do that and make you move your body at the same time, then I feel like I’ve done my job.”

These two musicians set up and play their instruments in the streets, subway stations and parks without fail because ultimately, they want to incite joy whether it’s in themselves or those around them.

“I definitely want to keep playing with this guy for as long as I can because it brings me a lot of joy. I want to keep playing the instrument until I’m an old man,” said Malick.

Danelle Gonzalez is a freshman in the House of Margaret Thatcher. She is majoring in Journalism, Culture and Society.

Finding ‘Mad Dog’ Under the Washington Square Arch