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Story and photography by Barbara Penny Angelakis
Edinburgh is the ultimate festival city in a country renowned for its festive celebrations throughout the year. Every summer from end of July to mid-September, Edinburgh becomes one big block party, with 12 distinct citywide festivals dedicated to Art, Film, Science, Fringe, Book, Storytelling, Hogmanay, Bank of Scotland Imaginate, International, Jazz & Blues, Mela, and Military Tattoo. Some of the festivals overlap and I will spend more than a week exploring the Fringe, Mela, and Military Tattoo.
 Festival mania has its roots in the days after the Second World War when the summer festival was viewed as a way to uplift the population, bring them together in celebration and reawaken the Scottish love of culture, song and dance that had out of necessity been put on hold for so many dark years. From a simple beginning of traditional performance arts the Edinburgh Festival has blossomed into a mega-entertainment venue drawing performers and participants from around the world. This gives credence to the “build it and they will come” credo because the larger the festival gets, the more people flock there to be entertained, amused, surprised, intellectually challenged, and inspired.
The Fringe began in 1947 in an effort to give new and experimental artists a vehicle for expression around the periphery or “fringe” of the mainstream performances. Performances range from one person sitting in a chair on an empty stage to a full ensemble cast with music, lights, and sets, and from the rational to the absurd.
A compelling one-man performance was “Bully”, Richard Fry’s powerful and moving tour-de-verse or verse monologue. Richard recounts the story of his passage from childhood to manhood through the loss of his Mother, his growing homosexuality, the people who bullied him along the way, and the consequence of his pent-up allowance of that abuse. Lived and written by Fry, one wonders at the courage of his performance night after night, carrying his audience along on a roller-coaster ride of humor and heartbreak. Kudos to Richard Fry for an intensely moving theatrical experience.
Another one-man performance but this time with visual imagery as a backdrop, was “Year of the Horse”, Tam Dean Burn’s homage to artist/political cartoonist Richard Horne, A.K.A. Harry Horse. Burn brings his not inconsiderable talent and amazing vocal range to a self-indulgent overly long retrospective of Harry Horse’s sometimes appallingly graphic political observations. Unlike Bully, Year of the Horse offers an unrelenting commentary about the human condition from the outside looking in and therefore loses its drive and its ability to hold the audience in spite of the heroic performance of Tam Dean Burn.
The wonderful thing about the Fringe is the serendipitous nature of walking into a  space that for a short while is turned into a performance venue with inadequate seating, sound system, and lighting and finding an absolute brilliant performance that makes your spirit soar. Such was my lack of expectation for the Edinburgh Jazz Festival Orchestra’s performance of Dave Milligan’s Sylvander & Clarinda (pseudonyms for Robert Burns and Agnes McLehose throughout their illicit love affair) along with the appearance of three exponents of the songs of Robert Burns. Oh how wrong I was… the music was complex; the jazz musicians were each in their own rights extraordinarily proficient; and the vocalizations by the three women absolutely delightful. Their performance in Robert Burns Scots language reminded me of scat-sing vocalizations that grew out of the American jazz movement of the 1930’s and 40’s. Although the women added their voices to the jazz piece written by Dave Milligan, they have performing careers of their own. Annie Grace plays pipes and whistles, Corrina Hewat is a harpist, and Karine Polwart is an award-winning singer/songwriter. As the Girlytrio they perform Scottish folk music a cappella www.myspace.com/girlytrio.
After Dave Milligan and the Edinburgh Jazz Festival Orchestra I was excited to attend the Graeme Stephen Sextet performance. Regrettably, this was music I simply did not understand. It seemed to me the musicians were performing dissident musical phrases for the sake of each other and not playing to the audience at all; it was as if the audience was simply there to witness not to be enthralled. The music was neither pleasing nor exciting but simply odd. Such is the nature of the Fringe and what makes it such a fun adventure.
Another performance that I liked was C!rca, part modern dance, part acrobatic expression, sometimes thrilling, often haunting; like poetry in motion. Completely unique in concept, imaginative in performance, and physically provocative, this is a must-see standout theatrical experience. Its difficult not to let the one scene where a female dancer dons high heeled red shoes and walks on the back of one of the male dancers overwhelm the other acts which while slightly less dramatic are nevertheless no less thrilling. The dancers seem to be a new group of humans that share a common pretzel ancestry and can twist their bodies into impossible  positions and then gracefully disengage while making it look easy… amazing!
The Mela Festival was founded in 1995 to reflect and celebrate Scotland’s cultural diversity. It is a family oriented event that offers acts from India, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Egypt, Turkey, Nepal, Uganda and more. Indigenous foods and crafts are available and performances occur continually throughout the day and evening.
I love bagpipes and so I must admit that my favorite performance event was the Military Tattoo. The word tattoo is a corruption of Dutch ‘Doe den tap toe’ or turn  off the taps, that was shouted by inn-keepers in the 17th century when the local fife and drum company would march through the streets signaling a return to quarters. The word came to mean any ceremonial performance of military music by massed bands and the Edinburgh Tattoo is a leading example of the development of the event. Companies from around the world participate and one of the standout performances came from the Top Secret Drum Corps of Switzerland. A choreographed percussion group that exchanged sticks while doing rapid-fire drumming and even set fire to the sticks for a thrilling night-time performance. The setting itself is magnificent. Edinburgh Castle, highlighted against the evening sky, serves as a multi-image back-drop for the scenes played out in the great courtyard. Is there a more thrilling sight and sound than that of 200 of the worlds best pipers and drummers slowly emerging from the opening massive double doors of the castle and parading towards you in full regalia. In addition to the marching bands there was music and dance and cultural acts from Edinburgh’s twin city of Xi’an in China and the Royal Corps of Musicians from Tonga. But my heart belongs to all the massed pipes and drums corps too numerous to mention here. www.edintattoo.co.uk
Of course in addition to the scheduled performances there are spontaneous street entertainments going on constantly, museums to visit, ghost tours to shake you in your boots, city tours, whiskey tours, and more, to fill your days and nights and leave you always hungry for more… Edinburgh is where it’s happening.
For information visit www.visitbritain.us
For information on Scotland visit www.visitscotland.com
For information on Edinburgh Festivals visit www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk
© September 2009 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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