Content area
Full text
THE Fringe cometh, yet again, and as Edinburgh cranks itself into cultural overdrive, it's worth reminding ourselves that it's not all stand-up comedy. Try delving into the indispensable Fringe programme for a sometimes bewildering melee of sounds and music genres.Remember, too, that the "official" Festival itself this year boasts an Asian music programme, including the great Ravi Shankar at the Usher Hall and a Queen's Hall performance by sarod (Indian slide guitar) virtuoso Amjad Ali Khan.For folk and related material, the Acoustic Music Centre @ St Brides (Venue 123: www.acousticmusiccentre.co.uk) remains a hotbed of activity, ranging from such seasoned names as gravel-voiced Dundee bard Michael Marra through one-man-blues-band Mike Whellans to the beautifully voiced young traditional singer Chloe Matharu and feisty all-female band The Shee.From further afield comes an energetic young group of Ozark fiddlers and, from a very different culture, Quixote, with their settings of Lorca's poetry. Two unique acts at the AMC are the astonishing fretboard attack of guitarist Preston Reed and, from Australia, the inimitable Spooky Men's Chorale.Meanwhile the intimate "folk sitting room" of the Royal Oak (Venue 309, www.royal-oak-folk.com) runs 35 nights of folk, including some notable duos - Alan Reid (ex-Battlefield) and Rob Van Sante, Mick West and Frank McLaughlin, and Alison McMorland and Geordie McIntyre.The Fringe roster at the Queen's Hall (Venue 72, www.thequeenshall.net) includes the mighty Barb Jungr, veteran guitarist Bert Jansch and, from Ireland, singer songwriter Damien Dempsey and Mary Coughlan, as well as Scottish favourites such as Dick Gaughan and the Peatbog Faeries.On the jazz front, the award-winning Jazz Bar (Venue 57, www.thejazzbar.co.uk) offers diversity aplenty, ranging from the esteemed young Scots bassist Euan Burton leading a band including New York saxophonist Will Vinson to sultry-voiced Kerry-Jo Hodgkin with guitarist Malcolm MacFarlane. There's also trumpeter Colin Steele, both with his Melting Pot,- featuring singer Subie Coleman - and in his Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Quartet with saxophonist Martin Kershaw. Prog-jazz outfit NeWt, play Led Zeppelin covers, while New York-based Russian trumpeter Valery Ponomarev blows into town, with a vengeance.St Andrew's and St George's West (Venue 111, www.standrewsandstgeorges.org.uk) hosts its annual harp programme, including the potent duo of Catriona McKay with fiddler Chris Stout, as well as performances by the harp orchestra Na Clarsairean. Another church, St John's (venue 127a, www.festivalofspirituality.org.uk), features the intriguing NoName Trio, fusing jazz piano, funk and traditional Iranian music.Also undergoing its annual transformation is Valvona & Crolla's deli (Venue 67, www.valvonacrolla.com), which accommodates accordion and clarinet fireworks from David Vernon and Dick Lee and singer Gill Bowman, and Lee collaborates with trombonist John Kenny and pianist James Ross in their magical re-working of the ballad Tam Lin.Other regular Fringe highlights include acoustic guitar maestro Antonio Forcione at the Assembly Hall (Venue 35, www.assemblyfestival.com) and Edinburgh's own high-energy Orkestra Del Sol raising the roof at Assembly George Square (Venue 3), while raunchy Irish chanteuse Camille O'Sullivan also returns, at the Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33, www.pleasance.co.uk).For musical beach bums, there's the outlying Fringe by the Sea at North Berwick (www.fringebythesea.co.uk) with Eddi Reader, Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain, and Capercaillie, among others.One unhappy cancellation has been the irrepressible jazz vocalist Barbara Morrison, who regularly packs 'em in at the Outhouse (Venue 99, www.outhouse-edinburgh.co.uk), but has had a leg amputated due to diabetes. She has every intention of returning, but in the meantime, her friend and New Orleans singer Lillian Boutte is performing in her stead, while a series of benefit nights for Morrison will feature Tod Gordon, Edith Budge and others.This is the Fringe, after all, and Morrison would be the first to insist that the show must go on.The Edinburgh Festival Fringe runs from 5-29 August, see www.edfringe.com. The Edinburgh International Festival runs from 12 August until 4 September. See www.eif.co.uk