Hoping for a Cultural Feast in a year of challenges

Rows over Creative Scotland and accusations of political bias aren’t the whole story, says CHRIS BARTTER

This is my Voices of Scotland feature for Tuesday's Morning Star.

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AS WE begin to hit the busiest time of the cultural year in Scotland, it’s worthwhile to take a look around the scene in this year of referendum, war anniversary and Commonwealth Games.

After huge political furore over funding and direction at Creative Scotland resulted in a change of director, has that resulted in a change of direction?

A similar change at the top of the National Theatre of Scotland (NToS) seems at least in part to have been prompted by criticisms of the ethnic origins of the founding artistic director.

And how have the nascent cultural initiatives begun by the Scottish trade union and labour movement at May Day and elsewhere been holding up?

The — still relatively new — attempts by the STUC and local trade union councils to build up the celebration side of May Day seems to be increasing in its reach and support.

The programme produced by Glasgow Friends of May Day, the body set up to channel those

initiatives, shows an increase in its coverage, running cabarets in Dumfries and Blantyre with singer-songwriter Rab Noakes as well as a repeat of last year’s successful Oran Mor production, where Mark Thomas headlines a superb line-up.

While this carefully avoids being seen as a replacement for the much-lamented MayFest, started by former STUC arts officer Alex Clark, there is no doubt that the base threads of trade union and local community involvement in the programme have similarities to the aims of that festival.

There are no overt references to this year’s independence referendum in the May Day celebrations — possibly marking the decision of many unions and the STUC to concentrate on using the debate to argue for the kind of Scotland they want rather then engage in the constitutional bitterness.

But we might well expect some references in the Scottish Left Review’s comedy fundraiser. It stars one of the Yes campaign’s leading cheerleaders in Elaine C Smith.

Similarly, last year’s furore over Sir Jonathan Mills’s claimed exclusion of referendum material from August’s Edinburgh International Festival seems now to have been a tad misplaced.

Laurie Sansom. NToS

A major production of Scottish playwright Rona Munro’s James work, directed by new NToS artistic director Laurie Sansom, will put Scottish identity and the governance of the nation front and centre-stage.

Both Edinburgh’s Book Festival and a major fringe venue, the Assembly Rooms, have promised more referendum material this year, although whether this proves overkill remains to be seen. Certainly, the Yes campaign has largely captured Scotland’s artists, with only a small handful declaring for No.

Sansom himself has been easing himself into the hot seat at NToS. As the second English artistic director he has already been the subject of warning shots from bloggers on the pro-independence Bella Caledonia site.

However, he has managed to commission pro- and anti- theatre practitioners David Greig and Dave

Dave MacLennan

MacLennan to curate The Yes, No, Don’t Know 5 Minute Theatre Show, and promises a revival of Joe Corrie’s In Time of Strife, a seminal Scottish play last revived by 7:84 Theatre Company in 1982.

Creative Scotland’s new chief executive faced an even more difficult baptism. Janet Archer followed the much-harassed Andrew Dixon after funding withdrawal from a large number of companies prompted a furious response in 2012.

Like him — and Laurie Sansom — she too was from south of the border. While ethnic origin shouldn’t matter, in the current febrile atmosphere it does (thank you Alasdair Gray).

Janet Archer

Rightly divining that funding was at the root of the crisis, Archer spent some time “crowd-sourcing” views on a(nother) new funding structure. This was finally revealed recently,and seems to be a bit of a return to the past. The reintroduction of a regular three-year funding for companies will be welcomed, at least by those that get it.

A successful first step perhaps, yet there is still much to do to rebuild fences. For example, previous funding and artistic decisions led to a virtual demise of Scottish touring theatre — especially those companies with a social message.

We have had to rely on NToS commissions and the occasional project-funded tour by venue-based companies. Is it too much to hope that along with longer-term funding we could see a return to regular Scottish touring companies bringing theatre to the village halls and pubs of Scotland?

Ironically the companies least caught up in the furore over funding are those companies that used to form the nexus of the debate.

The removal of the five “national” Scottish companies — NToS, Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra — from then Scottish Arts Council funding in 2007 to direct Scottish government funding seems to have given the lie to the truism that politicians shouldn’t get directly involved in the issuing of grants.

Cultural decisions are still a source of huge interest in Scotland. And where people get it wrong they are told so. Most recently the bizarre decision to use the demolition of people’s homes as a centrepiece of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony was overturned following an outcry from local people and commentators.

The jury is still out on Creative Scotland’s future direction and whether a plethora of pro-independence shows would be a blessing or a curse.

Chris Bartter chairs Glasgow Friends of May Day. He blogs on political and cultural issues at www.captaingrumping.blogspot.co.uk.

(Don’t Talk of) Dust and Roses

While the temperature of the indyref debate is on the rise (unsurprisingly), and the bitterness of the accusations and attacks on and by politicians is probably understandable if regrettable, it still rankles to see otherwise temperate journalists accuse others of attitudes that are patently inaccurate, especially when those commented on are in no position to defend themselves.

In particular the piece by Herald Literary editor, Rosemary Goring in Saturday 8th’s Herald Arts supplement  - It’s good that writers speak up for Scotland - claims that ‘Few [writers] loathed Scotland more than George Orwell’! A puzzling claim about a writer who obviously loathed

Barnhill, Isle of Jura. Orwell's home for 3 years

Scotland so much he chose to live here! Whether he did so as a ‘settler’ or a ‘colonist’, I leave for others to judge.

Having looked a little further into the claim, mainly via Orwell’s Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters, I remain baffled by Ms Goring’s assertion. Certainly Orwell made no secret of his hatred of nationalism in general – hardly surprisingly for someone who went through the 30’s, the Spanish Civil War and the 2^nd World War – and indeed has nothing very complimentary to say about the Scottish or Irish nationalism of the time, mainly because of what he saw as a basis in national enmity, rather than economic discrimination.

Orwell - did he loath Scotland?

I think that Orwell’s political perspective is often flawed – mainly because he looks at things from primarily an individual rather than collective viewpoint – but there appears to be no evidence for such a sweeping condemnation of his views of Scotland. Indeed from an early age he rejected the ‘Upper-class playground’ attitude to Scotland he found at his school, (Such, such were the joys) and was on record in arguing for ‘full autonomy’ for Scotland, and for Gaelic education in an As I Please column of 1947.

It is of course, helpful to have the view from outside on any activity. Whether that is from Will Self or Tony Benn, David Bowie or Billy Bragg, Sean Connery or Eddie Izzard, they have their perspectives, and we can accept or reject them. What isn’t acceptable is to apportion prejudice to people with flimsy evidence.

Many of us hoped that the “radical blurring of national lines” would continue, rather than have a new line drawn. Maybe the “fear and loathing writers used to nurse about their neighbours.” does still exist – just in a different neighbourhood?

Roots men make rebel connection in Glasgow

Much has been written about the links between British folk music and American roots music, much less so between British folk and Jamaican reggae. But that is the area that  Scottish Canadian musician Jason Wilson, and his band have been exploring in the last few years, with the help of English fiddle player Dave Swarbrick, and Scottish troubadour, Dick Gaughan. Last night's Rebel Musics concert at Oran Mor, as part of Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival showcased the results of that work, and previewed (it was designed to launch!) the collaborative album Lion Rampant, that Wilson's Band have recorded along with a multinational galaxy of guests

Dave Swarbrick

The links between the music are certainly more evident now than they were two years ago, when I last saw them - Swarbrick's Spanish Ladies dance tune works suprisingly well with a heavy reggae bass beat behind the fiddle! And Gaughan was clearly 'dancing in the oldest boots he owned' as he delivered Tom Paine's Bones! I hope it isn't heresy to suggest however that sometimes the link looks too contrived? I'm not sure adding Marley's No Woman, No Cry, on to the end of Burns' My luve is like a red, red rose adds much to our appreciation of either, despite Gaughan's inimitable delivery.

To add to the international mix, Pee Wee Ellis, past member of both the James Brown and Van Morrison bands, provided an excellent example of funk sax playing on a version of And it Stoned Me.

Earlier, singer-songwriter, Fraser Anderson (think early John Martyn meets a quiet Loudon Wainwright) played a laid-back set mixing his own material with Bob Dylan, Peter Sarstedt and an interesting Woody Guthrie poem, Sweetest Angel, that Anderson had set to music.

Dick Gaughan

Links between national musical traditions, as this concert showed, can come up with excellent new takes on old standards. They also demonstrate that links between peoples, are often much more important than national divisions. Gaughan's traditional finish of Hamish Henderson's international anthem, the Freedom Come-All Ye,  demonstrated that.

This is my Morning Star review of the Celtic Connections concert, Rebel Musics, starring Jason Wilson, Dick Gaughan, Dave Swarbrick and Pee Wee Ellis.  It took place at Oran Mor on Thursday 23 January 2014. It is as written, as I think the para on Pee Wee Ellis, works better linked to the set in which he played. I've appropriated the Star's headline however, as it is much better than mine! The piece as published is here.

Far, far from Ypres, and not yet close to a target

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If producing a show that deals with a cataclysmic event, such as a war. especially a war that consumed so many lives for so little purpose, it is useful to have an aim in view. What was the impact of it? Did people die in vain, or for a purpose? If there were disasters, why did they happen? Unfortunately the lack of such an aim or target in Friday's (17) First World War concert at Glasgow's Celtic Connections (Far, far from Ypres) in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall ultimately meant that it lost its way.

The material itself was often excellent, and the artists - including Barbara Dickson, Dick Gaughan and rising folk star, Siobhan Miller - more than did it justice. But the confusion about what the show set out to do, ultimately meant that it failed.

Billed as the music, songs and poetry of World War One from a Scottish perspective, the show used contemporary songs - music hall and troops own - in a similar vein to (and using much the same material from) theatre workshop's 'Oh, What a lovely War!'. However lacking the clear political perspective of that show, meant that we were also subjected to trite jingoistic material with no sense of irony or sarcasm. And of course, troops' songs in a major conflict such as the First World War don’t tend to fit into a Scottish, or any national perspective.

Ian McCalman, who directed the musical show, also mixed in some later material such as Eric Bogle's The Band played 'Waltzing Matilda' which, while a superb song, is about ANZAC troops in Gallipoli. I’m not sure Bogle’s Scottish birth was sufficient link.

The device of using ‘Jimmy McDonald’, an ‘everyman’ figure, could also have worked, if he hadn’t been introduced and then forgotten about for most of the show! Even when he had to be dispatched, he went via the Spanish ‘flu outbreak of 1919, rather than in the war itself. Ian Anderson’s narration, while clear, reinforced the view that this was intended to be a journey. But not knowing whether we were tracking the impact on the squaddies, history, the battles, or Scotland meant that we didn't really know where we were going.

It was a disappointment, that after such a successful opening venture as McCalman’s Spanish Civil War songs last year, this one didn’t gel. It wouldn’t take much to get it right. Perhaps it should be regarded as a ‘work in progress’?

Ending where we started

Scotland's cultural highlights started early with The Happy Lands - an uncompromising film portraying life in a Fife pit village during the General Strike. Developed by Edinburgh-based theatre workshop using local people both to source stories and portray characters, it premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival and toured throughout the UK looking for a general release. Unsuccessful, despite enthusiastic reviews, it is now available on DVD. Go to http://distrify.com/films/6990-the-happy-lands 

January's Celtic Connections festival had a strong left-leaning programme. The ubiquitous FairPley productions served up not only another sellout Songs of Struggle, but packed the huge Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow with a crowd anxious to see Tony Benn promoting his forthcoming film biography, Will and Testament. Other concerts included Songs of the Spanish Civil War, and a tribute concert to Scottish folk singer songwriter, Alistair Hulett, headlined by doyen of the folk scene, Roy Bailey.

Mark Thomas headlined the first sellout Great MayDay Cabaret, the centrepiece of Glasgow's MayDay festival celebrations. A bill including the Co-operative Funeralcare Brass Band, and Marxist magician, Ian Saville kept the Oran Mor audience rocking with songs and laughter. The finale where Mark grabbed a tambourine to join folk's political leader, Arthur Johnstone, and master of the moothie* Fraser Speirs in a rendition of Bandiera Rossa had everyone standing.

Other gems sparkled in an impressive MayDay programme, including a reprise of The Morning Star's own Our Class, Our Culture event that brought composer, Bill Sweeney to talk about Music and the Working Class Movement. 

FairPley also programmed a major part of Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms' Edinburgh Fringe, successfully mixing music, theatre and spoken word events. The Fringe showed an increase in left shows this year, although the low number of shows dealing with the upcoming independence referendum excited some comment. Notwithstanding, a conference on the future of political theatre concluded that it was in fact, in rude health

Assembly Rooms highlights included a return for Tony Benn and for a Songs of Struggle concert, and a couple of interesting short plays in God Bless Liz Lochhead, and Hindsight, the latter the first play from new writer, Keir McAllister. Elsewhere,  an intelligent look at the pressures of politics and the failures of the last Labour administration made The Confessions of Gordon Brown stand out, and the already high level of standup was boosted by the return to the stage of Alexi Sayle and another in the series of Mark Thomas's 100 Minor Acts of Dissent.

Other key events this year have included a cracking satire from a group of writers as part of the always worth watching A Play, a Pie and a Pint series. The Deficit Show took us swiftly back to the days of Wildcat in a sharp, entertaining attack on austerity economics. 

A superb performance of Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto from Canadian violinist, James Ehnes backed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, drew plaudits from audience and reviewers alike.

Finally the year ended with a TV outing for The Happy Lands, when BBC Scotland gave the film a showing (last Sunday 15 Dec) to counter the lack of a cinema release.

*Mouth organ, for those uninitiated! 

A Step for a Star?

If you are looking for something different to listen to tonight, you could do worse than to get yourself along to Glasgow's O2 ABC2 for 7.30, when talented, young Glasgow singer-songwriter, Jasmine, takes the next step in a promising career.

She takes to the stage to promote her newly released eponymous album. It can

be heard and purchased from iTunes here. Tickets for the concert are £10 available from
the O2 ABC or on line.

Jasmine's youth doesn't mean that her music is naive, sentimental or light. Her voice is
both powerful and melodic - with traces of one of her influences, Tracy Chapman - and her
songs are mature reflections on life. Probably because of her experiences. She is from
Pollok, and brought up in a brought up in a single parent family that she describes as 'very
close'.

She says
"Making music is my passion and I could honestly not picture myself doing anything else. I
have been writing, performing and developing since I was ten, and every song I've written
has been about some personal experience that either happened to me or to someone I
know."

Although Jasmine is only 18, she has already worked with a number of important
musicians, including Scottish singer-songwriter, John Taylor, and Wet, Wet, Wet's Graeme
Duffin, (who produced her album). She has supported Luka Bloom, at Oran Mor, and
played concerts to support, anti-poverty charity, Caritas, and the recently the Clutha Vaults
fund

Came for the Adams, left with the Shostakovich!

A huge crowd at Glasgow's City Halls last night, experienced sublime artistry. A performance of a piece of music took flight, in a way that only happens very rarely. The stage for this event was a BBC SSO concert simultaneously broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The artist was Canadian violinist James Ehnes. His playing of Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto took the roof off the City Halls.

Inspired by the Hall, which he admitted was a favourite, and by the piece which had been written while Shostakovich was under severe political pressure, Ehnes gave us all a performance that one sees few times in a lifetime. His playing of the final Burlesque movement, was particularly inspired and had even the orchestra applauding enthusiastically.

Indeed, it eclipsed the rest of the programme - a pity in some ways, as the first piece, Beethoven's 4th Symphony, is already too little known, and the John Adams headliner, City Noir both deserved good reviews - in which some of the magic rubbed off on the orchestra. Ehnes has worked with this orchestra, and with Donald Runnicles a number of times previously. Glasgow will be looking forward to the next occasion.

While it would be difficult to recapture the full experience of the live performance, it is available on BBC iplayer for the next seven days. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03kpdh8