Fara, Old College Quad, Edinburgh International Festival

 Back to the giant poly tunnel and slick organisation of the EIF.  Fara are three Orcadian fiddlers with a West of Scotland keyboard player, playing mostly their own compositions.  Their joy at being in front of a live audience again was clear the moment they came on stage and that exuberance continued into the music.  There were plenty of quieter moments, but it was the fast rousing stuff that brought everyone together, with clever arrangements and the virtuosity spread across the band.  Add in Jeanna Leslie's lilting vocals, and harmonies from the sweetness of Catriona Price and instinctive musicality of Kristen Harvey, and the songs were always a pleasure.  Pianist Rory matheson had his moment too, when the others walked off stage and left him to play a gorgeously soft Gaelic melody.

Rousing tunes to end the night brought the audience to their feet and wide grins all round.  Wonderful.

Viva Your Vulva, Walking Tour, Edinburgh Fringe

 An hour and more on the streets of the Old Town in the company of comedian, physio and fanny guru Elaine Miller, aka Gusset Grippers.  Combining her wealth of knowledge about the female anatomy, with her evangelism for pelvic health and natural comedy ability.  It qualifies as a module for some medical qualifications, so the content is evidence based and graphically factual, but never heavy handed.  How could it be when the final stops include Elaine donning an apron to which she gradually sticks on the parts forming the human vulva, including a generous helping of minge fringe.  It certainly gets looks from passers-by.  

Fortunately the weather was kind on the night we went, although sometimes traffic, and noisy tourists, made it hard to hear her words, so her choice of stopping points isn't always perfect.  But environment apart this is a show that's both educational and entertaining, indeed hilarious at times, and worth anyone's time.

The Afternoon Show, Infirmary Street & High School Yards, BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals

 Back to the BBC gazebo, for a live two hour show hosted by Nicola Meighan.  Jay Lafferty was again the warm up act.  And turned out to be the highlight of the afternoon...

Meighan is very professional and competent, but lacking the sparkle and wit that makes you feel you're in safe hands. The list of guests did little to add to the proceedings, despite the Fringe bringing so much talent to the city at the moment.  A couple of what were effectively tribute acts to Dolly Parton and Frank Sinatra; and electronic music composer who had decided to leave the only recording of his latest work buried in a hole in Orkney; actor turned stand-up Joe Thomas (the only one in the line up I was familiar with) being surprisingly inarticulate; and Gary Clark on music he's written for an upcoming TV series.  The star turn turned out to be Sacred Paws, a young Glasgow-based rock band who performed a couple of good rowdy numbers, and were also the most interesting interviewees.

Old people's radio...

Breaking the News, Infirmary Street & High School Yards, BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals

 This year the BBC have decamped from heriots and moved to a much smaller location in the grounds of a university building at the foot of Infirmary Street.  There is a covered area, under a big, clear plastic, gazebo, with socially distanced seating and waiting service from the bar/cafe.  Plus a few picnic benches to the side, uncovered, and viewing the big screen rather than the stage.  It felt very safe and generally well organised, and appropriate to where we are now.

Audience warm up was provided by local stand-up Jay Lafferty, who did an excellent job of interacting with her chosen targets and telling some entertaining stories.  And she didn't forget to deliver her bit of admin, explaining what was expected of the audience during the show.

Out came host Des Clarke to announce his guests, and what a great line up of Scottish comedy talent he had for this show.  Stuart Mitchell, Elaine Malcolmson, Farmer Jim Smith, and Janey Godley.  Des introduces topical stories from the previous week, in a variety of formats, and invites the panellists to identify the story and give their take on events.  Stories covered included the lifting of the majority of covid regulations in the country, the UN report of climate change and the impending COP26, and the reopening of highland bothies.  Plus views on how this year's much reduced fringe was working out.  

Almost two hours passed before the end was declared, and I was left wondering if enough of the  material recorded would be clean enough for a twenty eight minute radio show!  One recurring theme was shagging Daphne Broon in various bothies, and that certainly wouldn't be making it out for wider consumption!  

Whatever the end product sounds like, the live show is much, much funnier, and all the panellists were excellent.  Especially Smith whose dry countryside take on the world was always unusual and hilarious.  BtN doesn't always have such a stellar group of guests, but the format guarantees plenty of laughs and it's well worth getting along to a recording if the opportunity arises. 

The Jellyman's Daughter, Assembly George Square Gardens, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 Outdoors, uncovered, open to the elements.  Not so much the musicians, who, with all their electrical gear, have rudimentary cover over the stage, but the unprotected audience.  The weather leading up to the gig was concerning, with frequent showers.  We walked in the screened off area to see staff frantically wielding big blue rolls of paper towel, wiping away at drip-laden seats and tables.  Fortunately the showers stayed away for the duration, allowing proper enjoyment of an excellent act.

Duo Emily and Graham were again accompanied by banjoist Jamie Francis, playing a mix of  fasmiliar material and some songs which will be on their next album.  The joy at having a live audience to perform to was immediately apparent - as was their rustiness in talking to one!  But they soon settled into the routine and the singing and musicianship were still as good as ever. It sounds as Emily's voice may have improved over the last year.  And Graham's imaginiative cello accompaniment and solos still surprise and delight.

Great to see them back in action, and not get wet in the process.

Don't Crap in Your Onesie Matilda, The Counting House, Free Fringe

 An indoor gig for a change.  Which felt odd at least to begin with.  Queued up outside, walked in socially distanced column, masked, up to the room, to find the capacity not much reduced from normal despite some efforts to introduce social distancing.  There were bubbles of two and four seats, but with rows not really spaced out much, and the gaps between bubbles little more than a chair width, the claim that this was a socially distanced event was more in name than reality.  And when the door was closed...

Fortunately once the show was underway the laughter helped dispel the discomfort.  Ben Harrington refelcted on the trials of becoming a middle aged family man.  Nothing disastrous, life threatening or tragic.  Just the minor irritations of getting older, having kids, trying to live lie a proper adult.  And he has a good fund of stories, and punchlines, to take us through the forty five minutes.  Amiable, unthreatening, unchalenging humour, but sometimes that's perfect.  I enjoyed his tales of camping with children, the embarrassments provided by a big inflatable crocodile, and how his body is now playing unexpected tricks on him.  And yes, the title does feature and makes sense within the context, so that was a bonus, eh?

Talisk, Old College Quad, Edinburgh International Festival

 As with the Fringe, the International Festival has found it's way into different venues this year, using fresh air and social distancing to keep everyone safe, and feeling safe.  The centre of the Old College Quad, usually clad in billiard table lawn, has been boarded over, a high stage erected at one end, the the whole covered by, as Mr Amini put it, a giant polytunnel.  It might perhaps have little more elegance than that description suggests, but with side opening open it was fresh and dry, and with seats arranged in bubbles, it was a comfortable experience for the audience.  With enough of us in there to make the noise that the band deserved.

Talisk.  Hayley Keenan on fiddle, Graeme Armstrong on guitar and stomp, and the hyperactive energy mine that is Mohsen Amini on concertina.  Their backgrounds are in the Scottish folk scene, but their music is totally contemporary, and largely self penned.  And they knew exactly what everyone wanted - live music, and a chance to clap, sing and whoop along for that sense of shared energy and involvement we've all missed so much.  Talisk deliver.

There are plenty of memorable melodies, but it's the orchestration that impresses most, such a strong sound from just three instruments (with Armstrong adding occasional vocals, and plenty of percussion from the wired up board under his left foot), played with virtuosity and joy.  Mohsen talks fast between numbers, or not at all, so it's almost all music.  A few times he says they're going to slow things down a bit.  And they do.  For a few minutes, but soon the tempo picks up, Armstrong's boot is pounding down, and the audience are clapping and whooping again.  It's glorious stuff, and Talisk remain one of the finest and most grin-inducing bands around.  Long may they continue.

Oh, and did I mention the energy?

Fred MacAulay and Friends, Multistory, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 Multistory.  The name just oozes the glamour of showbiz, eh?  But what else do you call the space atop an NCP with a stage loosely protected form the weather by plastic sheeting, and an audience only protected by whatever they'd thought to bring along with them.  Welcome to Fringe 2021.  To be fair, the backdrop is pretty spectacular, with the castle rock towering in the background, topped by impenetrable walls.  And you can go downstairs on to the first level for a drink and a bit to eat.  It's not entirely bleak - they've put a bit of bunting out.

We were lucky.  The earlier rain held off for the duration and the temperature didn't fall toooo far while we were sat there.  And we got a decent show to watch, with plenty laughs, and that's definitely warming after so many many moths without live stand up.

Host Fred MacAulay is a fringe veteran and has an easy charm to his persona.  A few pandemic jokes, a bit of banter with the audience, and we were off.  First guest on was Esther Manito, who had some good lines about the joys of parenting in lockdown, how tired she was of Zoom, why she ended up with glitter on her pudenda when she went for a smear test.  (It should have been Fabreze...).  She was followed by Eshaan Akbhar had his own twists on racism, why he wasn't the fat Romesh Ranganathan, and the strangeness of Asian porn.  Very funny.

Home grown talent to close the show, Glasgow comedian and radio host Des Clarke.  Explaining why Scots are like nobody else in the world, and relating his embarrassing moment carrying the torch for the 2012 Olympics, Des brought a quickfire energy that the others lacked,and rounded off the show well.  

Macaulay has a rotating list of guests on for several nights, so your experience may vary.  As it certainly will if it's raining...  But this feels like a very 2021 show.  Everyone's glad to be back, even if the circumstances are a bit makeshift, and we all just want to enjoy ourselves again.  Don't go expecting anything groundbreaking, but this is a show that will always fit comfortably, like an old cardi.  

Limbo

 LIMBO  

Bleak.  The windswept, featureless remoteness of the unnamed Scottish island that provides a slow, unrelenting, and sometimes beautiful, backdrop.  The lives of the central protagonists, a group of refugees seeking asylum in the UK from war, hunger, discrimination, reduced to waiting and waiting for news which might move their cases forward, knowing that it can take years.  The attitudes of many of the locals, lacking empathy and viewing the arrivals with suspicion.  All bleak.

But not the film itself, which is frequently funny and compassionate, despite the darkness of the subject.  The opening scene sets the tone for the ridiculous, Kafkaesque, scenario these men are trapped in.  Helga (the wonderful Sidse Babett Knudsen) demonstrates her version of a sexy dance, and interacts with sidekick Boris (Kenneth Collard) who shows how not to behave towards women in a nightclub.  This is part of the cultural instruction lectures being provided.  It's funny in itself, but even more so when contrasted with the audience it's aimed at, a group of bewildered refugees who are as likely to find themselves in a nightclub as one of their number has of realising hid dream to play for Chelsea.  

The film follows the life of Omar (Amir El-Masry), and Oud player from Syria, and his housemates (from Afghanistan, Sudan and Ghana) in the isolated tatty house that has become their home, while they await the mill of bureaucracy to grind through their requests to stay in the UK.  There is little to do but watch pirate DVDs of Friends, trek to the lonely phone box to call home, and willing the postman to bring some news that would take out of the uncertainty that boxes them in.  And to hope that when the police suddenly swoop it isn't for them.

Omar worries about his parents, living in poverty in Istanbul, and his brother who has stayed in Syria to fight.  He worries if he can still play his Oud, which a plaster on his arm has prevented ever since he escaped his homeland.  He never smiles, for what is there to smile about?  There is only time, going by so slowly, and absurd, alienating encounters.  The filming reflects the desolate nature of this existence, long shots of roads to nowhere, distant horizons that can't be reached.  Little humorous touches, like the stolen chicken named after Freddie Mercury.  And the simple of humanity of these desperate individuals, stripped of dignity but supportive of one another, harbouring their own big and small and ambitions, and clinging on to hope.

With so many politicians and the media constantly dehumanising people who find themselves in this position, this movie is a powerful reminder that they are all human beings just like us, and reminds us of the importance of empathy.  Highly recommended.