Archive for June, 2008
A week later, it is still hard to believe that last Saturday’s event in the Botanics was such a wonderful experience for audience and performers alike. If the morning forecast was bad the evening weather was much worse. This was no midsummer magic. Yet people queued patiently in the downpour to get into the Temperate Palmhouse for the opening improvisation between FOUND, Shanghai Jazz and Korphai, and then out again (maybe a little reluctantly) to follow a watery trail to the Chinese Hillside.
On the Chinese Hillside, Chang Zhang danced in the rain while the audience of at least 200 people filed past smiling beneath umbrellas. On the bridge above, Bob Lowey’s Taichi Action group turned with one easy fluid movement as sounds of flute and cello floated up from the pond below.
Earlier in the day, performers had practised here in sunshine under the direction of Kimho Ip but he left them free to improvise. “I wanted to create the kind of thing you see in a Chinese park.”
Then he laughs because Wind and Bamboo has produced an unexpected intercultural discovery. “You know, all the performers agreed with me. If this had been happening in Taipei or Hong Kong as soon as it started to rain all the audience would have gone home and the musicians and dancers would have been moaning and complaining. But here, we all stayed and everyone did their best, including the audience, and we all had a wonderful experience.”
See (and hear) more on the Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo website – and podcasts.
June 28th, 2008
Natural Progression: 600 pieces of black bamboo set the scene for dance in the Botanics on midsummer night.
Poetry, politics and planting: we can look forward to a long hot summer, if events in this month’s newsletter are anything to go by. Get involved in environment politics through our Leith Open Space Opening Doors shadow scheme, and learn about an inspiring intercultural summer school. Don’t miss Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo midsummer’s event in the Botanics, look out for Poet’s Corner in Dalmeny Street, and watch Redbraes community garden grow. Come and help us plant some tatties in Persevere Garden on 21 June and relax in the Botanics on midsummer eve.
June 18th, 2008
Susie Brown puts finishing touches to 600 bamboo poles: her sculpture Natural Progression becomes a stage setting for dance in the Botanics on midsummer night.
There’s a serious theme rippling beneath the music but right now enjoy the sheer, mad fun of it all. Listen to robots playing Chinese instruments in the Palm House and watch Tai Chi dancers on the lawn while Bamboo percussionists from Thailand beat out a trail of discovery to the Chinese Hillside. Fay Young reports from behind the scenes…
I have to declare an interest because I am helping to organise the spectacular Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo, now being rehearsed for the midsummer happening in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. On Saturday evening around 50 artists, musicians and dancers come together from Far East and across Scotland to create a unique
intercultural experience in the Garden. And it is all free.
I sometimes ask director Kimho Ip (that’s him on the right) why he is doing it and he laughs, “I could make my life easier,” he admits. Trained in the classical western tradition this talented young composer musician could earn a good living if he just stuck to Mozart or Bach. But he is gaining a reputation for helping audiences rediscover traditional Chinese music – with a contemporary twist.
Instead of the concert hall, his venues are more likely to be museums, market places and cafes. And now, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh where he mixes experimental pop of the Edinburgh band FOUND with evocative Shanghai Jazz and old Cantonese melodies.
The serious purpose is to help people reconnect with both nature and culture in a fast changing world. “I am not particularly Chinese,” says Kimho who comes from Hong Kong but finished his education in Germany and Edinburgh. “But this culture is part of my DNA and it seems a shame if we lose such precious pieces from the past.”
The Botanics holds the biggest collection of Chinese plants outside China; a resource now being used to reintroduce threatened species to the natural world. In the same way, Kimho’s intercultural performance reconnects with Chinese cultural traditions that are fast disappearing in their original habitat.
Stephen Blackmore, the Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, has welcomed Kimho’s production with the infectious enthusiasm of a man who enjoys music (he owns and plays a collection of guitars). For him, music adds a vital element to the Garden.
“We want people to engage with huge issues of environmental change in the world,�? he says. “So the richer the experience we can provide, the more senses we can connect with, the more likely we will achieve that life changing experience.�?
Find out much more on the website: Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo. There’s a YouTube video of the robots in the Palm House and both sculpture and sound installations are open until at least 29 June.
Found’s Ziggy Campbell tests robots playing the Chinese dulcimer in the sound installation Three Pieces he has invented with Simon Kirby for Wind and Bamboo.
PS I also posted this report on Greener Leith website
June 18th, 2008
To celebrate National Refugee Week here is an extract from a poem by Sifiso from Zimbabwe, written during poetry workshops involving Scots, refugees and poets.
Scotland
Scotland here I come –
To my surprise you are different
From what I have heard.
Cold but welcoming
Drunkards, racists, unemployed, yes,
But just like any other country…Good people you have Scotland
Good places of interest you find them
Beaches, you have them
What else can I say
Warm heart you have Scotland
You take care of the homeless
You take care of the troubled ones
You are a refuge for the orphans
And the refugees
You choose no colour
You choose no tribe
Long live Scotland
This poem was written during poetry workshops involving Scots, refugees and poets Gerry Cambridge and Iyad Hayatleh through the Oxfam Asylum Positive Images Project in partnership with the Scottish Poetry Library.
June 18th, 2008
Francis Kahembwe meets Sarah Boyack MSP at the Scottish Parliament for the first of two days observing her work in environmental issues.
Welcome to Francis Kahembwe, the first person to take part in Opening Doors 2008, the Leith Open Space political ’shadowing’ scheme. As Francis, a forestry expert from Uganda, is particularly interested in the politics of conservation and environmental management we began by introducing him to Sarah Boyack, Labour spokesman on the Environment and Rural Affairs in the Scottish Parliament. As luck had it we arrived the day of the Climate Change debate!
Sarah Boyack, who has gained respect (and awards) for her contribution to environmental policy, had drawn up a busy two days for Francis to give him a broad view of her work in parliament and as constituency MSP for Edinburgh Central. Now we hope to offer Francis opportunities to observe how different voluntary organisations set about influencing government policy.
Francis brings experience of a career in conservation forestry in Africa and the Caribbean where he worked as adviser to the IUCN (the World Conservation Union). Since arriving in Scotland six years ago he has not been able to get work to fit his qualifications but (with two children at school here) he has gained employment as a sessional worker in the mental health project, Men in Mind, and has a long list of voluntary involvements including the Africa Centre, British Trust for Conservation Volunteers and the Carbon Centre in Dumfries.
As Francis explained when he applied for Opening Doors: “I want to acquire knowledge and awareness on how politics impact on the environment and then learn how to use that knowledge to influence environmental policy.”
This may be the first step in an interesting new direction for Opening Doors which began in 2006-7. We want to increase opportunities for people interested in taking part in local and national politics but, of course, politics extends far beyond parliament and city council chambers. Our mentors are likely to include teachers, trade unionists and environmental activists as well as elected politicians.
June 11th, 2008
Jonathon Baxter unmissable in Guantanamo orange suit draws a crowd to Poets’ Corner which opened in the glorious sunshine of Parklife 2008. Another great success for Friends of Dalmeny Street Park.
“Imagine a Speakers’ Corner. The sort of thing that takes place in Hyde Park, London… Well, Poets’ Corner is a variation on this theme: the only difference is that its a little more creative and, we hope, less rhetorical!” That was Jonathon Baxter’s vision and the pictures show how he made it happen.
Meanwhile a blue grass band played, Mongolian singers sang their magical sound, and the wooden planters made with the help of the WoodSchool and funding from Scottish Natural Heritage drew suitably admiring glances. All in all, as Lise Bratton co-ordinatory of Friends of Dalmeny Park sums it up: “Saturday was glorious and Parklie 2008 was a huge success.
June 10th, 2008
Community garden essentials: plants, enthusiastic volunteers and a nice mulch of money!
“The garden will become a focus for community social events but will also provide a quiet place for people to work, exercise or simply take some fresh air in beautiful surroundings.” Simon Daley, Community Beat Officer
Congratulations to Redbraes! Simon Daley sent the good news in a short email which got straight to the point: “I’ve just taken a call from the press office at the big lottery fund to confirm that we have been successful in our bid for £10k!”
That was 3 June. Since then Redbraes Residents Association and volunteers of Redbraes Community Garden have had more good news. Leith Neighbourhood Partnership will cover the cost of building paths in the site now being developed as a community garden.
“I would like to say a huge thank you,� says Simon who, as the local community police officer, has played an essential part in helping to create the vision for a community garden among the houses of Redbraes housing estate. The £10,000 grant from the Breathing Places programme of the Big Lottery Fund means that vision now becomes reality.
Since our report last month, garden designer Becky Govier, has also had offers of voluntary help to dig and plant up the beautifully peaceful area of ground rolling down to the Water of Leith.
Now over to Simon to explain why the garden is so important: “The £10,000 grant will allow us to create a true community resource in the centre ofEdinburgh. The garden project, with its focus on community involvement will influence how the local community interact with each other and their natural environment.
“Education is a crucial part of our aims and the design by Becky Govier of Greenedge Garden Designs has cleverly incorporated an outdoor classroom which will double as a meeting place. The ability to grow healthy foods will be available to young children through our work with local nurseries, schools and youth groups and the garden’s design will allow all members of the community to work and socialise together.
“The garden will become a focus for community social events but also provide a quiet place for people to work, exercise or simply take some fresh air in beautiful surroundings.�
Well done Redbraes!
June 6th, 2008
If you have time to spare why not join the Leith Museum campaign stall at Leith Festival Gala in Leith Links on Saturday 7 June.
“If you are able to help, even if just for an hour or so, that would be most welcome,” says Mark Lazarowicz MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, who will be helping to collect signatures supporting the campaign for a museum.
The busiest time is from about 12 noon to 4 pm. If you can help, please send an email to:
ja@in-activity.co.uk
June 2nd, 2008
