Episode 2 Edinburgh Nights

Welcome back to Edinburgh where we're halfway through

the world's largest celebration of arts and culture,

and we're still going strong.

Coming up - roll over, Beethoven.

We talk to the musicians staging a coup at this year's Festival.

Performers probe the signs of sexual attraction

and rope audiences in to the dating game.

Booker Prize-winner James Kelman

on a grief-laden journey through America's Deep South.

And dazzling dance from Scottish Ballet.

Opera and classical music have always been mainstays

of the International Festival,

but this year, Mogwai and Sigur Ros

have muscled in alongside Mahler and Schubert.

We've been speaking to some of the artists taking the Festival

out of its comfort zone and making Edinburgh rock.

One of the things that I kind of wanted to make really clear

when we started this programming was this isn't an either/or thing.

This is in no sense about replacing what currently exists

or what currently did exist within the Festival.

It is more about how do you reflect

the overall cultural geography that we live in today.

# Come here and do the right thing

# Get up and have a party

# Get up

# Get up, get up, get up... #

All art festivals I think can be a wee bit off-putting

to a lot of people because they don't seem very inclusive.

I think for a festival

as major as the Edinburgh International Festival,

it's important that the culture is accessible to everyone.

Good for the Festival, I think.

I guess, in some ways, our music,

it kind of fits into so many categories,

it's easy to put us on a bill with anyone, really, I think.

There's no reason why all of us shouldn't be brought together

because it is all music, after all.

# And I don't want your future

# I'm never, never coming home

# I don't want your future

# I'll be born before you're born... #

This year's Festival includes a really broad range of

international artists, like Anohni and Sigur Ros,

and then a really wide range of Scottish artists,

like Young Fathers, Aidan Moffat, Mogwai, Emma Pollock.

# The light we see is from times unknown.

# But in the place the troubles we are shown... #

What's interesting about the Edinburgh International Festival

is it brings an international audience.

Artists spent most of the year travelling about in a van,

or a bus if they're lucky, and they go find the audience.

But with a Festival circuit, it's entirely different.

# That's just the sounds up in your mouth

# So that the word... #

Her recent album, In Search Of Harperfield,

is extraordinarily nuanced and is kind of the voice of someone

who has lived one hell of a life,

but the lyrical strength of Scottish popular music,

this is a great example

of the poetry that exists within the lyrics.

# To write our own page of history... #

There's definitely a sense of it being one of the avant-garde sounds.

I mean, it would be pretty easy to put happy Scottish bands on

and everybody have a dance,

but it does seem to be

that it's somewhat more pensive and thoughtful music.

# Leave me suspended like this

# While the world does its bitching... #

Our evening with Aidan Moffat is a film and then concert

called Where You're Meant To Be

and the film is a documentary about when Aidan went around Scotland

with a very famous folk singer called Sheila Stewart.

And they didn't really get on at all.

# The taxi rank grows

# There's another wee ned

# With another bust nose... #

You've changed the verses, that's not on.

That's the tradition of these songs though, you know,

we often add bits, take away bits,

-make them your own.

-Never heard of that.

You know, ultimately it's about death, it's about legacy

and why people hold on to these things and what you leave behind.

I make it sound quite miserable, actually.

I mean, it is quite entertaining, you know, it's funny.

And usually at the expense of me, I should say, as well.

# ..Sent by a mutual mate

# So I wrote to her to try and woo her

# Still she didnae reciprocate... #

There's always been a really strong presence of Scottish music

throughout the Festival, that may be more traditionally

through the prism of classical music and occasionally folk.

Thankfully, the artists involved really have an international view,

and not all of them live in Scotland.

So I don't think it seems parochial.

There's nothing like the live experience of a Sigur Ros show.

Our music has a visual side to it.

You know, and our live show is a show,

it's nice to be able to do something more than only the music.

It's kind of nice to have a big show so we can just fall in the back

and people just look at something else other than yourself.

I think it's more geographical and attitude-wise, I think.

Icelanders have something in common with Scotland.

I think so, yeah, you know, it's a hard winter sometimes.

It's miserable, so you have to have something to do.

I'm pretty sure we grew up with a lot of the same records that Sigur Ros did,

and yeah, they've definitely got a lot of epicness.

This year at the International Festival,

we're going to do a couple of performances,

doing the live soundtrack to the film Atomic,

directed by Mark Cousins.

About turn.

Atomic is a film both kind of celebrating and investigating

the effect of the atom and the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima.

There is something in the music of Mogwai which has sort of

a bubbling kind of optimism,

combined with an anxiety, which really, really suits it.

I think as Mogwai's career has progressed,

I've began to think of them as contemporary composers.

The way they write is akin to the approach

that you might find a composer take when they are perhaps using

more traditional orchestral instrumentation.

The complexity behind the music and the richness of what they do,

it's...it's just extraordinary.

When we make our own music, when we make our own records,

we have a complete free rein,

so really it's just us expressing ourselves,

whereas with a project like this, it's very specific.

We were working alongside Mark, we were sending music to him,

he was coming back with feedback about it,

he was challenging us by asking for pieces

that might be up an avenue that we wouldn't normally go.

I think when you collaborate with people,

you see how other people work and it also gives you

a different way of looking at what you do.

To collaborate with someone who's not a musician,

I guess the artist really has to find themselves

in a comfortable spot with something that inspires them

and then let something happen as a result of that.

The beauty of it is that you don't know what it's going to be.

The worry of it is that you don't know

if it's going to be good or bad.

I think it's important, but we're a pretty isolated entity, Sigur Ros,

and we don't trust anybody else.

Cos everybody else sucks.

I think they've chosen some really great artists.

There's definitely a strong line-up.

They've all got a singular vision as to what it is they're doing.

We are certainly attracted to artists like Sigur Ros, Mogwai,

Emma Pollock, Aidan Moffat,

because they are genuinely pushing boundaries, they are genuinely

finding a voice which is their own, but is a new voice in popular music.

Now, wading through piles of Festival programmes

and mountains of flyers can be a thankless task.

Ever helpful, we've done some of that work for you.

So here's our guide to some of the hottest tickets in town.

Brooklyn-based theatre ensemble, The TEAM, joins up with

the National Theatre of Scotland in Anything That Gives Off Light,

a musical exploration of national identity and personal politics.

# I don't think there's anything better

# Worth more than a song and a whisky bottle

# I don't think there's anything

# Nothing worth more than a song and a whisky bottle. #

Three young playwrights based in Scotland are among this year's

Fringe First award winners.

Kieran Hurley's Heads Up is an apocalyptic monologue

set in a city on the verge of destruction.

You stand on a train flicking through the unwieldy pages

of a broadsheet newspaper that you hate but buy anyway.

More blah about Europe.

Something about Syria, some pictures of foreigners,

something about a famous person who has died, another one.

Something about something else,

the man next to you smells of cheese and onion crisps

and you want to get off.

Faslane, by Jenna Watt, is a timely insight

into the debate over nuclear weapons.

And there she is.

In the dock.

Trident.

This is the first time I've seen her.

I'm in awe.

And Adura Onashile's Expensive Shit

is the story of a nightclub toilet attendant

and her parallel lives in Nigeria and Glasgow.

I never think this is going to be what I become.

You hear me?

Never.

Alice Neel, The Subject And Me, at the Talbot Rice Gallery

is the first solo exhibition in Scotland

of the American artist's striking portraits

of friends and acquaintances.

And tributes to the much-loved David Bowie continue

with Sven Ratzke's glittering cabaret performance in Starman.

# We could be heroes

# Just for one day... #

Time to share the love now

as a raft of writers and performers take to the stage

to explore romance, relationships and the laws of attraction.

And as ever on the Fringe, the audience gets in on the act.

Anyone in the audience at Rob Drummond's dating show,

In Fidelity, might find themselves part of an experiment

exploring the science of romance.

If you're single and looking for love,

this just might be the start of something beautiful.

But if you're happily coupled, we need you too.

Your job is to watch and advise as our new couple embark on

their very first date right here, right now.

-Rob.

-Kirsty, I take it. Hello, how are you?

-Very well.

-Got you a glass of wine.

-Thanks very much, you look nice.

-Thank you.

-Rob, you are happily married.

-Yeah, very happily.

So why did you want to interrogate that marriage?

Tell me what you wanted to do with this show.

Well, I love working with audience members, first and foremost.

And then I got to thinking, well, the perfect reason for having

two people on stage, an inherently dramatic reason, is a date.

Then I realised I'm coming up for ten years married, this is perfect,

let's do a show about love and monogamy

and why we're together and why we stay together.

We ask people who are single and willing to come up on stage

to put their hand up. Then we get a bunch of people.

Some nights it's 15, some nights it's 3,

and yeah, then we just ask them some questions.

Do you find it hard to say, "I love you"?

LAUGHTER

-You don't find it hard to say "I love you," Anthony?

-No.

-No, not to anyone?

Well, it helps if I love them.

LAUGHTER

Just instinctively, who I could picture as a couple

and who answer the same types of things

and maybe who's making eye contact.

Yeah, sometimes I get it wrong,

but usually we have a pretty decent day up there.

So this is the story of Helen and Anthony. This is their beginning.

Their end might be in one hour...

or it might be in 40 years.

Or Helen and Anthony may last for ever.

In the course of your research for this, you went on to match.com.

-What happened?

-Yeah, I thought, I've never dated, really,

so I must become a dater.

And then slowly, I became more and more involved in it

and that's when the drama started.

"We seem to have a lot in common...#

Immediately I call my wife and tell her what I've done.

LAUGHTER

That's part of the narrative of the show,

what do we tell and what we not tell and why do we not tell.

There's this little pebble of doubt as well,

that I want people to think about what monogamy is,

why they do it, whether they do it to be nice or because they

couldn't live with being infidelitist.

So it's just to get them thinking a little bit,

but overall it's just to celebrate love.

-Do you think we make a good couple?

-Ask for audience feedback.

-ALL:

-Yes.

But you send two people out of the door with the possibility.

-Right, yeah.

-Have you any idea if that possibility has been acted on?

There was a couple who met and they're on their third date already.

They met last week, so it can work.

Also investigating the power of attraction

is Stephanie Ridings' one-woman show, The Road To Huntsville,

based on stories of women who look for love behind bars.

You just want to break down the glass and get them out of prison.

Some people are just supposed to be together, whether there's a cage

and a lawman between you...

People fall in love all over the world for all different reasons.

I just decided to fall in love with a man on death row.

Tell me why you're interested in the first place in death row.

I watched a documentary and couldn't quite get my head around it,

why women would want to go

and have these relationships.

And I think those are the things that interest me

as a writer and a theatre-maker,

to then want to go and explore it and try to understand it better.

I started to look at forums and find websites

that you can write to men all over the world, and women.

Christopher is excited

about the chance of an encounter with a stranger.

Randy's a 12½ and unlike any other brother.

12½ what, Randy? I think he needs to be clear about that.

Troy wants a shot, Franklin wants a photo. Of course he bloody does!

Douglas is innocent...

As a performer, you took on the kind of persona

of a woman contacting somebody on death row

and then also the impact that had on your relationship with your partner.

What did you want to achieve by doing that?

I think to just show how easy it is actually to be very judgy

and like, "Oh, look at these women!" and being slightly unkind

and then actually how easily she fell into it

and how easily that could happen to anyone.

Me?

I have a one-eyed house cat who only goes outside on supervised visits.

Sometimes on a lead.

Him.

"I haven't seen the stars for years and years and years.

"And I miss the rain...

"And really good food, such as burger, steak, ribs."

In the show, you talk about why you think some women...

you know, correspond with men.

The relationship that actually is incredibly, bizarrely,

incredibly safe for the woman.

There's something about the fantasy of it.

So they can make that relationship anything they want it to be.

They don't have to live with them, they're not cleaning up after them

and it's almost like the Romeo and Juliet, isn't it?

The star-crossed lovers. They can't be together.

"I haven't touched another human being in 14 years.

"Can you imagine the sensory deprivation that causes?"

"I feel I could tell you anything. You just seem to get it.

"Get me."

From love steeped in fantasy

to the reality of the awkward first meeting.

The improvised Blind Date Project plunges its actors into the unknown

with a different date each night.

-Sorry I'm late.

-Oh.

-Sorry.

-Hi.

-I'm Alex.

Nice to meet you, I'm so sorry.

Oh, my goodness, I love it.

Every night, my date is a different performer, male or female.

Um...I don't know who it is until the moment that they arrive.

So the character that plays your date has no idea

what he or she is actually getting?

No, all they know is an online profile that I've created.

No, I wanted to ask you something.

So, "I'm an easy-going, friendly guy, blah, blah, blah.

"I love movies, music, reading." Yeah, just like everybody else.

-"And I like to build PCs."

-Er...

What does PC stand for? I know what it is, but what does it stand for?

-It stands for personal computer.

-Personal computer, that's it...

'Once the director's spoken to the guest about what kind of character'

they want to play, then we decide what is going to match that best

to create a really good show.

We have our mobile phones with us on the bar.

We get text messages with directions.

I've played assistants to executive producers, two executive producers,

hairdressers,

geeks, psychic healers - that's one of my favourites.

What's the, um...?

Oh, I went out with a Serbian guy once, so I got this Serbian tattoo.

What does it say?

It says "Far from the sea",

because I was far away from him and I missed him.

-SHE GIGGLES

-I don't miss him any more.

I just see him every day.

It's just an adventure every single evening.

This feels like a little bit of a date with you.

Good, I'm very happy to be a date.

Digging deep into my soul, I love it.

You didn't know that I was, you know... Well, you should have known,

I'm 35 and single and obviously there's a reason for it.

But that's all right, don't worry about it.

Definitely, I guarantee people walk away

thinking about their own lives and their own connections

and, if they're on a date, they feel so blessed

that it's not going as badly as my date went, you know?

The Booker Prize-winning writer James Kelman is regarded by many

as Scotland's greatest living author.

His new book, Dirt Road, is a moving account

of a grieving father and his teenage son

who travel from the west coast of Scotland

to the Southern states of America.

Ahead of a sell-out appearance at the Edinburgh Book Festival,

I spoke to him about family bonds and the emotional power of music.

Dirt Road is Kelman's ninth novel and draws on

his own experiences of spending time as a teenager in America.

It's set in Alabama where 16-year-old Murdo Macarthur

and his father, Tom, retreat to stay with family after the untimely death

of both Murdo's sister and mother from cancer.

On the trip, Murdo discovers zydeco music

and picks up an accordion for the first time since his mother's death.

An aspiring musician, he dreams of a life on the open roads of America,

while his father fears letting him go.

Why did you choose to set the novel in the Deep South?

The reality is that I know the South better than I know the north.

My brother has lived in New York City for 45 years,

but I've lived in Texas a couple of years and California a few months.

And I feel that I know the South more.

So Murdo and his father go to America

ostensibly for a two-week holiday,

making a very long, tortuous journey to get there,

with a few wrong turns on the way.

But on the way, they come across a zydeco band. Tell me about that.

Murdo blunders all the time.

He blunders in a small town in Mississippi

and therefore they miss the bus.

That's why they have to stay in this town.

And the next morning, Murdo goes to try and get some food.

He's walking down the road

and he hears this beautiful accordion playing.

This character Queen Monzee-ay playing this waltz, accordion waltz.

"The old lady and the girl, it was great seeing them.

"Something just beautiful about it.

"Seeing the two of them there in their music.

"The accordion itself, cream coloured

"and as fancy as you ever would see.

"Light glinting in the morning sun and that brilliant sound.

"What a sound. That was special.

"That was so special."

Does this come out of your own deep love of music?

Well, zydeco and Cajun music, yeah, that type of stuff

has always interested me since I was a young fellow, that music.

I mean, I love blues, like most people do.

And I like some... quite a lot of country music.

So that whole thing was a way

of bringing my own knowledge of music to bear,

but I'm writing this as a guy who was in his mid-to-late 60s,

so, you know...

and having spent a couple of years in Texas,

I was very, very fond of Conjunto music, Tex-Mex music

and the music around Lafayette, I know that music too.

I get the sense in the novel that music -

for Murdo and as a kind of generality -

is a redemptive thing and it will help him through his grief.

I actually wonder now - I didn't think of it the time -

whether Queen Monzee-ay intuits that at that time.

When Queen Monzee-ay sees Murdo listening,

and he's listing behind a tree

and he get spotted by Queen Monzee-ay's grandson,

she says, "I know he's listening to music." That song.

And it was enough for her to see the quality of concentration

and how he was watching her that he was the player.

And of course he gets drawn in and eventually he gets discovered

and he plays and she invites him to play a bit of music for us.

And this is Queen Monzee-ay, who's a great character.

-I say that... I created her.

-Yes, you're allowed to say that.

"Queen Monzee-ay had appeared at the backstage doorway.

"The old bartender held her accordion and waited with it.

"She was wearing a type of gown that made you think of Africa.

"When she came forward, she did it like a march.

"Hands at her side and pausing only by the step up onto the stage.

"This was one of the greatest moments in Murdo's life.

"He felt this as strongly as ever he could feel anything.

"And Queen Monzee-ay, she settled at the front of the stage,

"still in her march, gazing out at the audience.

"And now the bartender stepped up and he handed the accordion to her,

"her accordion, the fanciest ever you saw.

"Just as beautiful, beautiful, amazing, amazing thing."

You've been so influential in modern Scottish writing.

You know, Irving Welsh, Alan Warner, and he pays respect to you.

When you started out, were you aware that you were moving

into a completely new phase of Scottish writing?

Even though you were drawing from tradition.

In a way, I didn't discover I was drawing from tradition

until I was much older.

At that time, I really didn't have much time for English literature.

For me, it was just class-based

and biased against Scottish working-class people,

so I had no interest in it.

The writers and the art that I was interested in was

the Russian writers and French writers.

These were most important for me.

You were aware of the right to be a writer.

You didn't have to go and think, "Oh, God, I'm going to be a writer."

Because of the nature of UK society,

people tend to blush and be kind of ashamed and embarrassed, you know.

"What do you do?" "Oh, I think I'm a writer," you know?

They're kind of scared to say, "I'm going to be a writer."

In America you go, "I'm a writer."

You know. Whereas if you're Scottish,

"Well, I'm going to be a writer."

So did the award of the Man Booker

make any difference to you in that regard?

Well, the marginalisation became much more complex.

I would say...or the hostility... kind of continues.

If you were to ask my publisher or ask my granddaughter.

My granddaughter and friends...

My granddaughter went into a Waterstones down south

and asked for this new novel about a week ago.

Being a feisty young girl, she said, "Where is Dirt Road?"

And he said, "Well, you'd have to order it."

At which point, she said, "Six copies, please."

She said, "Do you have anything else by James Kelman?"

-And what was the answer?

-The answer was, "No, we don't have anything.

"But we'll order it for you."

I'm interested in this.

Given that I absolutely accept that your granddaughter

obviously as an investigative journalist is doing extremely well,

but as a writer, you still feel marginalised?

It's not that I still feel marginalised,

I don't feel one thing or the other, the fact is that I am marginalised.

These things are not really questions for myself,

in a sense, these are things that I find...

It's interesting when you hear about it, you know, I mean,

my work is always well reviewed,

so...and this novel is probably better reviewed

than most of them were, but at the same time you think,

why would a bookseller not have your work?

But some of it's not to do with me personally,

it's to do with the perceptions of Scottishness.

I have been described as being too Scottish, you know.

So being too Scottish means, I suppose, that you don't assimilate.

If you assimilate, you're OK.

If you use Standard English literary form,

then your work will appear in WH Smith.

That's just about it for this week.

Next time, I'll be meeting the comics

who have completely rewritten their shows

as a result of the vote to leave the EU.

And the writer and broadcaster Bidisha

will be exploring stories of refugees and migration.

And there's much more besides at...

We leave you with a spine-tingling performance

from Scottish Ballet, who thrilled audiences this week

at the International Festival. Goodnight.