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list.co.uk/festival HOW I DO EDINBURGH by The Blue Bunny
Can you sum up your show in five words? Children’s birthday party for adults. For anyone still on the fence, what’s a sure-fire selling point? A giant gay rabbit in Spandex, twirling a baton is not enough? I think this year’s La Clique is going to be amazing, considering it’s the 10th anniversary for the show. What part of the Fringe do you most look forward to? The community, networking, and wine-infused rabble-rousing between performers. It can be rather lonely pursuing this crazy ‘foolish’ destiny to be an artist. It’s incredibly liberating to enter a zone where being in a show, then going to a show, then going to a party over and over again completely makes sense. What part of the Fringe do you dread? Oh gahd. The depression when it’s over. I’ve already filled my refrigerator with crémant and chocolate two months ahead. This reminds me to get a box of tissues . . . At the first sign of an August meltdown, what do you reach for? At my age, I’m pretty good at meltdowns: rage, anxiety, delusions, hair loss, skin sag, eyebags and spontaneous crying. There really is only one thing to do: stay in bed! Please! Do us all a favour – stay out of society! What other festival shows do you want to see? Adrienne Truscott’s Asking for It. You know, the funny show about rape? I know Adrienne as a choreographer and Wau Wau Sister, and I am excited for her daring solo turn to tackle ideas trés au courant. Then of course, it’s the boys of Briefs. Excuse me if I’m partial to my friend's crotch-oriented art, but I have some pretty great friends with really nice crotches! What will you do on your days off? I don’t really have any days off, I have time off. La Clique is running 25 shows in a row, so when I’m not there, I’ll sleep, look for nudist hangouts, accept invitations for adventures and, of course, practice twirling my baton! ■ The Blue Bunny appears in La Clique, The Famous Spiegeltent, George Street, 0844 693 3008, 2–25 Aug, 10pm, £20 (£17). For a chance to win tickets to the Spiegeltent's after-hours club, Famous Club Spiegel, see page 63.
SOTHO SOUNDS: JUNK FUNK Tin cans and oil drums make for high-NRG township jive
In recent years, homemade instruments have brought unusual sounds to records by Staff Benda Bilili (marvel at Roger Landu’s wild, electrified one-string lute) and Konono No.1 (kalimbas run through buzzing amplifiers). The latest DIY instrument builders to make a splash are southern Africa’s Sotho Sounds – set to keep Edinburgh dancing in August. Hailing from the mountainous kingdom of Lesotho, the members are shepherds who took to fashioning instruments from recycled materials. Tin cans and scrap wood are transformed into 4-string guitars and violins, while oil drums and bottle tops become percussion instruments. The musicians' gumboots also serve as percussion instruments, carrying on the dance tradition started by South African miners and made famous worldwide by Paul Simon on Graceland. Drawing on the choral music traditions of Lesotho, township
jive, reggae and funk, Sotho Sounds first brought their rich vocals and infectious rhythms to Western audiences at Womad ten years ago. Asked how their lives have changed since that UK debut, manager Risenga Makondo explains, ‘We have picked up new artistic ideas along the way. This change has been a big surprise to a lot of people and us. This is our first time in Scotland and we are looking forward to it’. (Stewart Smith) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, 3–26 Aug (not 14), 1.30pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10). Previews 31 Jul–2 Aug, £6.
ECSTATIC ARC Back to the future, factory style
Although currently nursing a broken leg, Robbie Thomson is one of Scotland’s most dynamic artists working in the overlapping areas of sound, performance and visual art. Ecstatic Arc debuted at Cryptic’s Sonica festival of Sound Art in 2012, and was chosen, alongside Sven Werner’s Tales of Magical Realism, to represent the brand at the Fringe.
Inspired by Thomson’s interest in the Tesla coil – a transformer that produces high-voltage electricity and spectacular purple sparks – Ecstatic Arc uses kinetic sculpture and an electronic soundtrack to imagine the creation of electricity as an almost mystical ritual. Thomson’s ability to manipulate light and sound adds mystery and awe to the electricity that we take for granted.
Cryptic’s artistic director Cathie Boyd is characteristically
enthusiastic to have Thomson on her bill. ‘He is the future of art,’ she claims. Yet Thomson’s aesthetic futurism is locked into the celebration of past technology, even while his soundtracks bubble and writhe in joy over the machinery’s pulsing revelations. (Gareth K Vile) ■ Summerhall, 0845 874 3001, 2–25 Aug (not 7, 14, 21), 7pm, £12 (£8).
Previews | FESTIVAL MUSIC 1–8 Aug 2013 THE LIST FESTIVAL 71