8:46:03 > 8:46:06Welcome back to Edinburgh where we're halfway through
8:46:06 > 8:46:08the world's largest celebration of arts and culture,
8:46:08 > 8:46:10and we're still going strong.
8:46:10 > 8:46:14Coming up - roll over, Beethoven.
8:46:14 > 8:46:17We talk to the musicians staging a coup at this year's Festival.
8:46:20 > 8:46:23Performers probe the signs of sexual attraction
8:46:23 > 8:46:26and rope audiences in to the dating game.
8:46:28 > 8:46:30Booker Prize-winner James Kelman
8:46:30 > 8:46:33on a grief-laden journey through America's Deep South.
8:46:34 > 8:46:37And dazzling dance from Scottish Ballet.
8:46:41 > 8:46:44Opera and classical music have always been mainstays
8:46:44 > 8:46:46of the International Festival,
8:46:46 > 8:46:48but this year, Mogwai and Sigur Ros
8:46:48 > 8:46:50have muscled in alongside Mahler and Schubert.
8:46:50 > 8:46:53We've been speaking to some of the artists taking the Festival
8:46:53 > 8:46:56out of its comfort zone and making Edinburgh rock.
8:47:08 > 8:47:11One of the things that I kind of wanted to make really clear
8:47:11 > 8:47:14when we started this programming was this isn't an either/or thing.
8:47:14 > 8:47:18This is in no sense about replacing what currently exists
8:47:18 > 8:47:21or what currently did exist within the Festival.
8:47:21 > 8:47:23It is more about how do you reflect
8:47:23 > 8:47:26the overall cultural geography that we live in today.
8:47:26 > 8:47:29# Come here and do the right thing
8:47:29 > 8:47:32# Get up and have a party
8:47:32 > 8:47:34# Get up
8:47:34 > 8:47:38# Get up, get up, get up... #
8:47:38 > 8:47:42All art festivals I think can be a wee bit off-putting
8:47:42 > 8:47:45to a lot of people because they don't seem very inclusive.
8:47:45 > 8:47:47I think for a festival
8:47:47 > 8:47:50as major as the Edinburgh International Festival,
8:47:50 > 8:47:53it's important that the culture is accessible to everyone.
8:47:53 > 8:47:54Good for the Festival, I think.
8:47:54 > 8:47:57I guess, in some ways, our music,
8:47:57 > 8:47:59it kind of fits into so many categories,
8:47:59 > 8:48:04it's easy to put us on a bill with anyone, really, I think.
8:48:04 > 8:48:06There's no reason why all of us shouldn't be brought together
8:48:06 > 8:48:08because it is all music, after all.
8:48:08 > 8:48:11# And I don't want your future
8:48:11 > 8:48:15# I'm never, never coming home
8:48:15 > 8:48:19# I don't want your future
8:48:19 > 8:48:23# I'll be born before you're born... #
8:48:23 > 8:48:26This year's Festival includes a really broad range of
8:48:26 > 8:48:29international artists, like Anohni and Sigur Ros,
8:48:29 > 8:48:31and then a really wide range of Scottish artists,
8:48:31 > 8:48:36like Young Fathers, Aidan Moffat, Mogwai, Emma Pollock.
8:48:36 > 8:48:41# The light we see is from times unknown.
8:48:41 > 8:48:45# But in the place the troubles we are shown... #
8:48:45 > 8:48:48What's interesting about the Edinburgh International Festival
8:48:48 > 8:48:50is it brings an international audience.
8:48:50 > 8:48:55Artists spent most of the year travelling about in a van,
8:48:55 > 8:48:58or a bus if they're lucky, and they go find the audience.
8:48:58 > 8:49:01But with a Festival circuit, it's entirely different.
8:49:01 > 8:49:05# That's just the sounds up in your mouth
8:49:05 > 8:49:07# So that the word... #
8:49:07 > 8:49:09Her recent album, In Search Of Harperfield,
8:49:09 > 8:49:13is extraordinarily nuanced and is kind of the voice of someone
8:49:13 > 8:49:15who has lived one hell of a life,
8:49:15 > 8:49:18but the lyrical strength of Scottish popular music,
8:49:18 > 8:49:20this is a great example
8:49:20 > 8:49:22of the poetry that exists within the lyrics.
8:49:22 > 8:49:28# To write our own page of history... #
8:49:28 > 8:49:31There's definitely a sense of it being one of the avant-garde sounds.
8:49:31 > 8:49:34I mean, it would be pretty easy to put happy Scottish bands on
8:49:34 > 8:49:36and everybody have a dance,
8:49:36 > 8:49:37but it does seem to be
8:49:37 > 8:49:41that it's somewhat more pensive and thoughtful music.
8:49:41 > 8:49:45# Leave me suspended like this
8:49:45 > 8:49:49# While the world does its bitching... #
8:49:49 > 8:49:53Our evening with Aidan Moffat is a film and then concert
8:49:53 > 8:49:55called Where You're Meant To Be
8:49:55 > 8:50:00and the film is a documentary about when Aidan went around Scotland
8:50:00 > 8:50:03with a very famous folk singer called Sheila Stewart.
8:50:03 > 8:50:05And they didn't really get on at all.
8:50:05 > 8:50:08# The taxi rank grows
8:50:08 > 8:50:10# There's another wee ned
8:50:10 > 8:50:13# With another bust nose... #
8:50:13 > 8:50:17You've changed the verses, that's not on.
8:50:17 > 8:50:19That's the tradition of these songs though, you know,
8:50:19 > 8:50:21we often add bits, take away bits,
8:50:21 > 8:50:23- make them your own. - Never heard of that.
8:50:23 > 8:50:27You know, ultimately it's about death, it's about legacy
8:50:27 > 8:50:30and why people hold on to these things and what you leave behind.
8:50:30 > 8:50:33I make it sound quite miserable, actually.
8:50:33 > 8:50:35I mean, it is quite entertaining, you know, it's funny.
8:50:35 > 8:50:39And usually at the expense of me, I should say, as well.
8:50:39 > 8:50:41# ..Sent by a mutual mate
8:50:41 > 8:50:44# So I wrote to her to try and woo her
8:50:44 > 8:50:47# Still she didnae reciprocate... #
8:50:47 > 8:50:51There's always been a really strong presence of Scottish music
8:50:51 > 8:50:55throughout the Festival, that may be more traditionally
8:50:55 > 8:50:58through the prism of classical music and occasionally folk.
8:50:58 > 8:51:02Thankfully, the artists involved really have an international view,
8:51:02 > 8:51:03and not all of them live in Scotland.
8:51:03 > 8:51:05So I don't think it seems parochial.
8:51:12 > 8:51:15There's nothing like the live experience of a Sigur Ros show.
8:51:18 > 8:51:20Our music has a visual side to it.
8:51:21 > 8:51:24You know, and our live show is a show,
8:51:24 > 8:51:27it's nice to be able to do something more than only the music.
8:51:27 > 8:51:30It's kind of nice to have a big show so we can just fall in the back
8:51:30 > 8:51:33and people just look at something else other than yourself.
8:51:40 > 8:51:44I think it's more geographical and attitude-wise, I think.
8:51:44 > 8:51:47Icelanders have something in common with Scotland.
8:51:47 > 8:51:51I think so, yeah, you know, it's a hard winter sometimes.
8:51:51 > 8:51:55It's miserable, so you have to have something to do.
8:52:00 > 8:52:04I'm pretty sure we grew up with a lot of the same records that Sigur Ros did,
8:52:04 > 8:52:08and yeah, they've definitely got a lot of epicness.
8:52:13 > 8:52:15This year at the International Festival,
8:52:15 > 8:52:18we're going to do a couple of performances,
8:52:18 > 8:52:21doing the live soundtrack to the film Atomic,
8:52:21 > 8:52:22directed by Mark Cousins.
8:52:22 > 8:52:25About turn.
8:52:30 > 8:52:34Atomic is a film both kind of celebrating and investigating
8:52:34 > 8:52:38the effect of the atom and the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima.
8:52:38 > 8:52:43There is something in the music of Mogwai which has sort of
8:52:43 > 8:52:46a bubbling kind of optimism,
8:52:46 > 8:52:50combined with an anxiety, which really, really suits it.
8:52:53 > 8:52:56I think as Mogwai's career has progressed,
8:52:56 > 8:53:00I've began to think of them as contemporary composers.
8:53:00 > 8:53:02The way they write is akin to the approach
8:53:02 > 8:53:07that you might find a composer take when they are perhaps using
8:53:07 > 8:53:10more traditional orchestral instrumentation.
8:53:10 > 8:53:15The complexity behind the music and the richness of what they do,
8:53:15 > 8:53:18it's...it's just extraordinary.
8:53:18 > 8:53:21When we make our own music, when we make our own records,
8:53:21 > 8:53:23we have a complete free rein,
8:53:23 > 8:53:25so really it's just us expressing ourselves,
8:53:25 > 8:53:28whereas with a project like this, it's very specific.
8:53:28 > 8:53:31We were working alongside Mark, we were sending music to him,
8:53:31 > 8:53:34he was coming back with feedback about it,
8:53:34 > 8:53:37he was challenging us by asking for pieces
8:53:37 > 8:53:40that might be up an avenue that we wouldn't normally go.
8:53:40 > 8:53:42I think when you collaborate with people,
8:53:42 > 8:53:44you see how other people work and it also gives you
8:53:44 > 8:53:46a different way of looking at what you do.
8:53:46 > 8:53:50To collaborate with someone who's not a musician,
8:53:50 > 8:53:53I guess the artist really has to find themselves
8:53:53 > 8:53:56in a comfortable spot with something that inspires them
8:53:56 > 8:54:00and then let something happen as a result of that.
8:54:00 > 8:54:03The beauty of it is that you don't know what it's going to be.
8:54:03 > 8:54:05The worry of it is that you don't know
8:54:05 > 8:54:07if it's going to be good or bad.
8:54:07 > 8:54:13I think it's important, but we're a pretty isolated entity, Sigur Ros,
8:54:13 > 8:54:16and we don't trust anybody else.
8:54:17 > 8:54:19Cos everybody else sucks.
8:54:23 > 8:54:26I think they've chosen some really great artists.
8:54:26 > 8:54:28There's definitely a strong line-up.
8:54:28 > 8:54:32They've all got a singular vision as to what it is they're doing.
8:54:32 > 8:54:36We are certainly attracted to artists like Sigur Ros, Mogwai,
8:54:36 > 8:54:38Emma Pollock, Aidan Moffat,
8:54:38 > 8:54:41because they are genuinely pushing boundaries, they are genuinely
8:54:41 > 8:54:45finding a voice which is their own, but is a new voice in popular music.
8:54:48 > 8:54:51Now, wading through piles of Festival programmes
8:54:51 > 8:54:53and mountains of flyers can be a thankless task.
8:54:53 > 8:54:56Ever helpful, we've done some of that work for you.
8:54:56 > 8:55:00So here's our guide to some of the hottest tickets in town.
8:55:01 > 8:55:05Brooklyn-based theatre ensemble, The TEAM, joins up with
8:55:05 > 8:55:08the National Theatre of Scotland in Anything That Gives Off Light,
8:55:08 > 8:55:13a musical exploration of national identity and personal politics.
8:55:13 > 8:55:15# I don't think there's anything better
8:55:15 > 8:55:19# Worth more than a song and a whisky bottle
8:55:19 > 8:55:20# I don't think there's anything
8:55:20 > 8:55:26# Nothing worth more than a song and a whisky bottle. #
8:55:26 > 8:55:29Three young playwrights based in Scotland are among this year's
8:55:29 > 8:55:31Fringe First award winners.
8:55:31 > 8:55:34Kieran Hurley's Heads Up is an apocalyptic monologue
8:55:34 > 8:55:37set in a city on the verge of destruction.
8:55:37 > 8:55:40You stand on a train flicking through the unwieldy pages
8:55:40 > 8:55:43of a broadsheet newspaper that you hate but buy anyway.
8:55:43 > 8:55:44More blah about Europe.
8:55:44 > 8:55:47Something about Syria, some pictures of foreigners,
8:55:47 > 8:55:50something about a famous person who has died, another one.
8:55:50 > 8:55:51Something about something else,
8:55:51 > 8:55:54the man next to you smells of cheese and onion crisps
8:55:54 > 8:55:55and you want to get off.
8:55:55 > 8:55:58Faslane, by Jenna Watt, is a timely insight
8:55:58 > 8:56:01into the debate over nuclear weapons.
8:56:01 > 8:56:03And there she is.
8:56:03 > 8:56:04In the dock.
8:56:04 > 8:56:06Trident.
8:56:07 > 8:56:10This is the first time I've seen her.
8:56:11 > 8:56:13I'm in awe.
8:56:13 > 8:56:16And Adura Onashile's Expensive Shit
8:56:16 > 8:56:19is the story of a nightclub toilet attendant
8:56:19 > 8:56:22and her parallel lives in Nigeria and Glasgow.
8:56:22 > 8:56:25I never think this is going to be what I become.
8:56:26 > 8:56:28You hear me?
8:56:28 > 8:56:29Never.
8:56:29 > 8:56:33Alice Neel, The Subject And Me, at the Talbot Rice Gallery
8:56:33 > 8:56:36is the first solo exhibition in Scotland
8:56:36 > 8:56:38of the American artist's striking portraits
8:56:38 > 8:56:40of friends and acquaintances.
8:56:42 > 8:56:45And tributes to the much-loved David Bowie continue
8:56:45 > 8:56:49with Sven Ratzke's glittering cabaret performance in Starman.
8:56:49 > 8:56:52# We could be heroes
8:56:55 > 8:56:57# Just for one day... #
8:56:59 > 8:57:01Time to share the love now
8:57:01 > 8:57:04as a raft of writers and performers take to the stage
8:57:04 > 8:57:08to explore romance, relationships and the laws of attraction.
8:57:08 > 8:57:11And as ever on the Fringe, the audience gets in on the act.
8:57:13 > 8:57:15Anyone in the audience at Rob Drummond's dating show,
8:57:15 > 8:57:19In Fidelity, might find themselves part of an experiment
8:57:19 > 8:57:21exploring the science of romance.
8:57:21 > 8:57:23If you're single and looking for love,
8:57:23 > 8:57:26this just might be the start of something beautiful.
8:57:26 > 8:57:29But if you're happily coupled, we need you too.
8:57:29 > 8:57:33Your job is to watch and advise as our new couple embark on
8:57:33 > 8:57:36their very first date right here, right now.
8:57:36 > 8:57:39- Rob.- Kirsty, I take it. Hello, how are you?- Very well.
8:57:39 > 8:57:43- Got you a glass of wine.- Thanks very much, you look nice.- Thank you.
8:57:43 > 8:57:45- Rob, you are happily married. - Yeah, very happily.
8:57:45 > 8:57:48So why did you want to interrogate that marriage?
8:57:48 > 8:57:50Tell me what you wanted to do with this show.
8:57:50 > 8:57:52Well, I love working with audience members, first and foremost.
8:57:52 > 8:57:56And then I got to thinking, well, the perfect reason for having
8:57:56 > 8:57:59two people on stage, an inherently dramatic reason, is a date.
8:57:59 > 8:58:02Then I realised I'm coming up for ten years married, this is perfect,
8:58:02 > 8:58:04let's do a show about love and monogamy
8:58:04 > 8:58:06and why we're together and why we stay together.
8:58:06 > 8:58:10We ask people who are single and willing to come up on stage
8:58:10 > 8:58:13to put their hand up. Then we get a bunch of people.
8:58:13 > 8:58:15Some nights it's 15, some nights it's 3,
8:58:15 > 8:58:18and yeah, then we just ask them some questions.
8:58:18 > 8:58:21Do you find it hard to say, "I love you"?
8:58:26 > 8:58:29LAUGHTER
8:58:34 > 8:58:38- You don't find it hard to say "I love you," Anthony?- No. - No, not to anyone?
8:58:38 > 8:58:40Well, it helps if I love them.
8:58:40 > 8:58:42LAUGHTER
8:58:42 > 8:58:45Just instinctively, who I could picture as a couple
8:58:45 > 8:58:47and who answer the same types of things
8:58:47 > 8:58:49and maybe who's making eye contact.
8:58:49 > 8:58:50Yeah, sometimes I get it wrong,
8:58:50 > 8:58:52but usually we have a pretty decent day up there.
8:58:52 > 8:58:57So this is the story of Helen and Anthony. This is their beginning.
8:58:57 > 8:59:00Their end might be in one hour...
8:59:00 > 8:59:02or it might be in 40 years.
8:59:02 > 8:59:07Or Helen and Anthony may last for ever.
8:59:07 > 8:59:11In the course of your research for this, you went on to match.com.
8:59:11 > 8:59:14- What happened?- Yeah, I thought, I've never dated, really,
8:59:14 > 8:59:15so I must become a dater.
8:59:15 > 8:59:18And then slowly, I became more and more involved in it
8:59:18 > 8:59:19and that's when the drama started.
8:59:19 > 8:59:22"We seem to have a lot in common...#
8:59:28 > 8:59:31Immediately I call my wife and tell her what I've done.
8:59:31 > 8:59:32LAUGHTER
8:59:32 > 8:59:34That's part of the narrative of the show,
8:59:34 > 8:59:37what do we tell and what we not tell and why do we not tell.
8:59:37 > 8:59:39There's this little pebble of doubt as well,
8:59:39 > 8:59:41that I want people to think about what monogamy is,
8:59:41 > 8:59:44why they do it, whether they do it to be nice or because they
8:59:44 > 8:59:47couldn't live with being infidelitist.
8:59:47 > 8:59:49So it's just to get them thinking a little bit,
8:59:49 > 8:59:52but overall it's just to celebrate love.
8:59:52 > 8:59:55- Do you think we make a good couple? - Ask for audience feedback.
8:59:55 > 8:59:57- ALL:- Yes.
8:59:57 > 9:00:01But you send two people out of the door with the possibility.
9:00:01 > 9:00:06- Right, yeah.- Have you any idea if that possibility has been acted on?
9:00:06 > 9:00:10There was a couple who met and they're on their third date already.
9:00:10 > 9:00:13They met last week, so it can work.
9:00:17 > 9:00:19Also investigating the power of attraction
9:00:19 > 9:00:22is Stephanie Ridings' one-woman show, The Road To Huntsville,
9:00:22 > 9:00:27based on stories of women who look for love behind bars.
9:00:27 > 9:00:30You just want to break down the glass and get them out of prison.
9:00:30 > 9:00:33Some people are just supposed to be together, whether there's a cage
9:00:33 > 9:00:35and a lawman between you...
9:00:35 > 9:00:39People fall in love all over the world for all different reasons.
9:00:39 > 9:00:43I just decided to fall in love with a man on death row.
9:00:43 > 9:00:46Tell me why you're interested in the first place in death row.
9:00:46 > 9:00:51I watched a documentary and couldn't quite get my head around it,
9:00:51 > 9:00:53why women would want to go
9:00:53 > 9:00:56and have these relationships.
9:00:56 > 9:00:58And I think those are the things that interest me
9:00:58 > 9:01:00as a writer and a theatre-maker,
9:01:00 > 9:01:03to then want to go and explore it and try to understand it better.
9:01:03 > 9:01:06I started to look at forums and find websites
9:01:06 > 9:01:10that you can write to men all over the world, and women.
9:01:10 > 9:01:11Christopher is excited
9:01:11 > 9:01:13about the chance of an encounter with a stranger.
9:01:13 > 9:01:16Randy's a 12½ and unlike any other brother.
9:01:16 > 9:01:2012½ what, Randy? I think he needs to be clear about that.
9:01:20 > 9:01:25Troy wants a shot, Franklin wants a photo. Of course he bloody does!
9:01:25 > 9:01:26Douglas is innocent...
9:01:26 > 9:01:30As a performer, you took on the kind of persona
9:01:30 > 9:01:33of a woman contacting somebody on death row
9:01:33 > 9:01:36and then also the impact that had on your relationship with your partner.
9:01:36 > 9:01:39What did you want to achieve by doing that?
9:01:39 > 9:01:44I think to just show how easy it is actually to be very judgy
9:01:44 > 9:01:48and like, "Oh, look at these women!" and being slightly unkind
9:01:48 > 9:01:51and then actually how easily she fell into it
9:01:51 > 9:01:53and how easily that could happen to anyone.
9:01:53 > 9:01:55Me?
9:01:55 > 9:01:58I have a one-eyed house cat who only goes outside on supervised visits.
9:01:58 > 9:02:00Sometimes on a lead.
9:02:00 > 9:02:02Him.
9:02:02 > 9:02:06"I haven't seen the stars for years and years and years.
9:02:06 > 9:02:08"And I miss the rain...
9:02:09 > 9:02:14"And really good food, such as burger, steak, ribs."
9:02:14 > 9:02:18In the show, you talk about why you think some women...
9:02:18 > 9:02:20you know, correspond with men.
9:02:20 > 9:02:23The relationship that actually is incredibly, bizarrely,
9:02:23 > 9:02:25incredibly safe for the woman.
9:02:25 > 9:02:27There's something about the fantasy of it.
9:02:27 > 9:02:30So they can make that relationship anything they want it to be.
9:02:30 > 9:02:33They don't have to live with them, they're not cleaning up after them
9:02:33 > 9:02:36and it's almost like the Romeo and Juliet, isn't it?
9:02:36 > 9:02:38The star-crossed lovers. They can't be together.
9:02:38 > 9:02:42"I haven't touched another human being in 14 years.
9:02:43 > 9:02:46"Can you imagine the sensory deprivation that causes?"
9:02:51 > 9:02:56"I feel I could tell you anything. You just seem to get it.
9:02:57 > 9:02:58"Get me."
9:02:58 > 9:03:00From love steeped in fantasy
9:03:00 > 9:03:03to the reality of the awkward first meeting.
9:03:03 > 9:03:07The improvised Blind Date Project plunges its actors into the unknown
9:03:07 > 9:03:09with a different date each night.
9:03:09 > 9:03:12- Sorry I'm late.- Oh.- Sorry.
9:03:12 > 9:03:15- Hi.- I'm Alex.
9:03:15 > 9:03:17Nice to meet you, I'm so sorry.
9:03:17 > 9:03:19Oh, my goodness, I love it.
9:03:19 > 9:03:23Every night, my date is a different performer, male or female.
9:03:23 > 9:03:26Um...I don't know who it is until the moment that they arrive.
9:03:26 > 9:03:29So the character that plays your date has no idea
9:03:29 > 9:03:31what he or she is actually getting?
9:03:31 > 9:03:34No, all they know is an online profile that I've created.
9:03:34 > 9:03:36No, I wanted to ask you something.
9:03:36 > 9:03:39So, "I'm an easy-going, friendly guy, blah, blah, blah.
9:03:39 > 9:03:43"I love movies, music, reading." Yeah, just like everybody else.
9:03:43 > 9:03:46- "And I like to build PCs."- Er...
9:03:46 > 9:03:49What does PC stand for? I know what it is, but what does it stand for?
9:03:49 > 9:03:52- It stands for personal computer. - Personal computer, that's it...
9:03:52 > 9:03:55'Once the director's spoken to the guest about what kind of character'
9:03:55 > 9:03:59they want to play, then we decide what is going to match that best
9:03:59 > 9:04:01to create a really good show.
9:04:01 > 9:04:04We have our mobile phones with us on the bar.
9:04:04 > 9:04:07We get text messages with directions.
9:04:07 > 9:04:10I've played assistants to executive producers, two executive producers,
9:04:10 > 9:04:11hairdressers,
9:04:11 > 9:04:16geeks, psychic healers - that's one of my favourites.
9:04:16 > 9:04:18What's the, um...?
9:04:18 > 9:04:21Oh, I went out with a Serbian guy once, so I got this Serbian tattoo.
9:04:21 > 9:04:23What does it say?
9:04:23 > 9:04:24It says "Far from the sea",
9:04:24 > 9:04:27because I was far away from him and I missed him.
9:04:27 > 9:04:30- SHE GIGGLES - I don't miss him any more.
9:04:30 > 9:04:31I just see him every day.
9:04:34 > 9:04:36It's just an adventure every single evening.
9:04:36 > 9:04:39This feels like a little bit of a date with you.
9:04:39 > 9:04:40Good, I'm very happy to be a date.
9:04:40 > 9:04:42Digging deep into my soul, I love it.
9:04:42 > 9:04:45You didn't know that I was, you know... Well, you should have known,
9:04:45 > 9:04:48I'm 35 and single and obviously there's a reason for it.
9:04:49 > 9:04:52But that's all right, don't worry about it.
9:04:52 > 9:04:55Definitely, I guarantee people walk away
9:04:55 > 9:04:59thinking about their own lives and their own connections
9:04:59 > 9:05:02and, if they're on a date, they feel so blessed
9:05:02 > 9:05:05that it's not going as badly as my date went, you know?
9:05:05 > 9:05:09The Booker Prize-winning writer James Kelman is regarded by many
9:05:09 > 9:05:12as Scotland's greatest living author.
9:05:12 > 9:05:14His new book, Dirt Road, is a moving account
9:05:14 > 9:05:17of a grieving father and his teenage son
9:05:17 > 9:05:19who travel from the west coast of Scotland
9:05:19 > 9:05:21to the Southern states of America.
9:05:21 > 9:05:25Ahead of a sell-out appearance at the Edinburgh Book Festival,
9:05:25 > 9:05:28I spoke to him about family bonds and the emotional power of music.
9:05:31 > 9:05:34Dirt Road is Kelman's ninth novel and draws on
9:05:34 > 9:05:38his own experiences of spending time as a teenager in America.
9:05:39 > 9:05:42It's set in Alabama where 16-year-old Murdo Macarthur
9:05:42 > 9:05:47and his father, Tom, retreat to stay with family after the untimely death
9:05:47 > 9:05:50of both Murdo's sister and mother from cancer.
9:05:52 > 9:05:55On the trip, Murdo discovers zydeco music
9:05:55 > 9:05:59and picks up an accordion for the first time since his mother's death.
9:06:00 > 9:06:05An aspiring musician, he dreams of a life on the open roads of America,
9:06:05 > 9:06:07while his father fears letting him go.
9:06:10 > 9:06:13Why did you choose to set the novel in the Deep South?
9:06:13 > 9:06:17The reality is that I know the South better than I know the north.
9:06:17 > 9:06:21My brother has lived in New York City for 45 years,
9:06:21 > 9:06:26but I've lived in Texas a couple of years and California a few months.
9:06:26 > 9:06:29And I feel that I know the South more.
9:06:29 > 9:06:32So Murdo and his father go to America
9:06:32 > 9:06:34ostensibly for a two-week holiday,
9:06:34 > 9:06:37making a very long, tortuous journey to get there,
9:06:37 > 9:06:39with a few wrong turns on the way.
9:06:39 > 9:06:43But on the way, they come across a zydeco band. Tell me about that.
9:06:43 > 9:06:46Murdo blunders all the time.
9:06:46 > 9:06:48He blunders in a small town in Mississippi
9:06:48 > 9:06:50and therefore they miss the bus.
9:06:50 > 9:06:53That's why they have to stay in this town.
9:06:53 > 9:06:57And the next morning, Murdo goes to try and get some food.
9:06:57 > 9:06:58He's walking down the road
9:06:58 > 9:07:01and he hears this beautiful accordion playing.
9:07:01 > 9:07:06This character Queen Monzee-ay playing this waltz, accordion waltz.
9:07:06 > 9:07:10"The old lady and the girl, it was great seeing them.
9:07:10 > 9:07:13"Something just beautiful about it.
9:07:13 > 9:07:16"Seeing the two of them there in their music.
9:07:16 > 9:07:19"The accordion itself, cream coloured
9:07:19 > 9:07:22"and as fancy as you ever would see.
9:07:22 > 9:07:26"Light glinting in the morning sun and that brilliant sound.
9:07:26 > 9:07:29"What a sound. That was special.
9:07:29 > 9:07:31"That was so special."
9:07:32 > 9:07:35Does this come out of your own deep love of music?
9:07:35 > 9:07:38Well, zydeco and Cajun music, yeah, that type of stuff
9:07:38 > 9:07:42has always interested me since I was a young fellow, that music.
9:07:42 > 9:07:45I mean, I love blues, like most people do.
9:07:45 > 9:07:49And I like some... quite a lot of country music.
9:07:49 > 9:07:50So that whole thing was a way
9:07:50 > 9:07:54of bringing my own knowledge of music to bear,
9:07:54 > 9:07:59but I'm writing this as a guy who was in his mid-to-late 60s,
9:07:59 > 9:08:02so, you know...
9:08:02 > 9:08:05and having spent a couple of years in Texas,
9:08:05 > 9:08:11I was very, very fond of Conjunto music, Tex-Mex music
9:08:11 > 9:08:15and the music around Lafayette, I know that music too.
9:08:15 > 9:08:17I get the sense in the novel that music -
9:08:17 > 9:08:20for Murdo and as a kind of generality -
9:08:20 > 9:08:24is a redemptive thing and it will help him through his grief.
9:08:24 > 9:08:27I actually wonder now - I didn't think of it the time -
9:08:27 > 9:08:30whether Queen Monzee-ay intuits that at that time.
9:08:30 > 9:08:32When Queen Monzee-ay sees Murdo listening,
9:08:32 > 9:08:33and he's listing behind a tree
9:08:33 > 9:08:36and he get spotted by Queen Monzee-ay's grandson,
9:08:36 > 9:08:39she says, "I know he's listening to music." That song.
9:08:39 > 9:08:43And it was enough for her to see the quality of concentration
9:08:43 > 9:08:46and how he was watching her that he was the player.
9:08:46 > 9:08:51And of course he gets drawn in and eventually he gets discovered
9:08:51 > 9:08:55and he plays and she invites him to play a bit of music for us.
9:08:55 > 9:09:00And this is Queen Monzee-ay, who's a great character.
9:09:00 > 9:09:05- I say that... I created her. - Yes, you're allowed to say that.
9:09:05 > 9:09:09"Queen Monzee-ay had appeared at the backstage doorway.
9:09:09 > 9:09:13"The old bartender held her accordion and waited with it.
9:09:13 > 9:09:16"She was wearing a type of gown that made you think of Africa.
9:09:16 > 9:09:20"When she came forward, she did it like a march.
9:09:20 > 9:09:25"Hands at her side and pausing only by the step up onto the stage.
9:09:25 > 9:09:29"This was one of the greatest moments in Murdo's life.
9:09:29 > 9:09:33"He felt this as strongly as ever he could feel anything.
9:09:33 > 9:09:37"And Queen Monzee-ay, she settled at the front of the stage,
9:09:37 > 9:09:40"still in her march, gazing out at the audience.
9:09:40 > 9:09:45"And now the bartender stepped up and he handed the accordion to her,
9:09:45 > 9:09:49"her accordion, the fanciest ever you saw.
9:09:49 > 9:09:53"Just as beautiful, beautiful, amazing, amazing thing."
9:09:53 > 9:09:58You've been so influential in modern Scottish writing.
9:09:58 > 9:10:02You know, Irving Welsh, Alan Warner, and he pays respect to you.
9:10:02 > 9:10:05When you started out, were you aware that you were moving
9:10:05 > 9:10:08into a completely new phase of Scottish writing?
9:10:08 > 9:10:10Even though you were drawing from tradition.
9:10:10 > 9:10:13In a way, I didn't discover I was drawing from tradition
9:10:13 > 9:10:15until I was much older.
9:10:15 > 9:10:19At that time, I really didn't have much time for English literature.
9:10:19 > 9:10:21For me, it was just class-based
9:10:21 > 9:10:24and biased against Scottish working-class people,
9:10:24 > 9:10:26so I had no interest in it.
9:10:26 > 9:10:30The writers and the art that I was interested in was
9:10:30 > 9:10:33the Russian writers and French writers.
9:10:33 > 9:10:35These were most important for me.
9:10:35 > 9:10:38You were aware of the right to be a writer.
9:10:38 > 9:10:42You didn't have to go and think, "Oh, God, I'm going to be a writer."
9:10:42 > 9:10:45Because of the nature of UK society,
9:10:45 > 9:10:50people tend to blush and be kind of ashamed and embarrassed, you know.
9:10:50 > 9:10:53"What do you do?" "Oh, I think I'm a writer," you know?
9:10:53 > 9:10:56They're kind of scared to say, "I'm going to be a writer."
9:10:56 > 9:10:59In America you go, "I'm a writer."
9:10:59 > 9:11:01You know. Whereas if you're Scottish,
9:11:01 > 9:11:03"Well, I'm going to be a writer."
9:11:03 > 9:11:05So did the award of the Man Booker
9:11:05 > 9:11:08make any difference to you in that regard?
9:11:08 > 9:11:13Well, the marginalisation became much more complex.
9:11:15 > 9:11:19I would say...or the hostility... kind of continues.
9:11:19 > 9:11:22If you were to ask my publisher or ask my granddaughter.
9:11:22 > 9:11:25My granddaughter and friends...
9:11:25 > 9:11:28My granddaughter went into a Waterstones down south
9:11:28 > 9:11:31and asked for this new novel about a week ago.
9:11:31 > 9:11:36Being a feisty young girl, she said, "Where is Dirt Road?"
9:11:36 > 9:11:39And he said, "Well, you'd have to order it."
9:11:39 > 9:11:42At which point, she said, "Six copies, please."
9:11:42 > 9:11:46She said, "Do you have anything else by James Kelman?"
9:11:46 > 9:11:50- And what was the answer?- The answer was, "No, we don't have anything.
9:11:50 > 9:11:52"But we'll order it for you."
9:11:52 > 9:11:53I'm interested in this.
9:11:53 > 9:11:56Given that I absolutely accept that your granddaughter
9:11:56 > 9:12:00obviously as an investigative journalist is doing extremely well,
9:12:00 > 9:12:03but as a writer, you still feel marginalised?
9:12:03 > 9:12:05It's not that I still feel marginalised,
9:12:05 > 9:12:09I don't feel one thing or the other, the fact is that I am marginalised.
9:12:09 > 9:12:12These things are not really questions for myself,
9:12:12 > 9:12:15in a sense, these are things that I find...
9:12:15 > 9:12:21It's interesting when you hear about it, you know, I mean,
9:12:21 > 9:12:24my work is always well reviewed,
9:12:24 > 9:12:28so...and this novel is probably better reviewed
9:12:28 > 9:12:32than most of them were, but at the same time you think,
9:12:32 > 9:12:34why would a bookseller not have your work?
9:12:34 > 9:12:37But some of it's not to do with me personally,
9:12:37 > 9:12:40it's to do with the perceptions of Scottishness.
9:12:40 > 9:12:43I have been described as being too Scottish, you know.
9:12:43 > 9:12:47So being too Scottish means, I suppose, that you don't assimilate.
9:12:49 > 9:12:51If you assimilate, you're OK.
9:12:51 > 9:12:54If you use Standard English literary form,
9:12:54 > 9:12:56then your work will appear in WH Smith.
9:12:58 > 9:13:00That's just about it for this week.
9:13:00 > 9:13:02Next time, I'll be meeting the comics
9:13:02 > 9:13:05who have completely rewritten their shows
9:13:05 > 9:13:07as a result of the vote to leave the EU.
9:13:07 > 9:13:09And the writer and broadcaster Bidisha
9:13:09 > 9:13:12will be exploring stories of refugees and migration.
9:13:12 > 9:13:16And there's much more besides at...
9:13:17 > 9:13:20We leave you with a spine-tingling performance
9:13:20 > 9:13:22from Scottish Ballet, who thrilled audiences this week
9:13:22 > 9:13:25at the International Festival. Goodnight.