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Flux Festival Edinburgh: 18—30 Aug.
Orbital, Mark Almond and The Fall are among the big names at this year's Flux Festival, which takes place in Edinburgh during August. Now The List can exclusively reveal that the final addition to the bill will be Tindersticks, who will grace the Queen’s Hall with their first Scottish show in three years.
Flux plays host to fourteen concerts, with a line-up that reads like a who's who of alt.mainstream culture from the 505 through to the 905. The big development this year, thanks to increased sponsorship courtesy of Levis, is the addition of shows in Princes Street Gardens from Nick Cave, Ken Kesey and Orbital.
'We started Flux as we thought there were some amazingly talented artists without a context at the Edinburgh Festival, and we wanted to provide that,’ explains co-organiser Alex Poots.
Aside from the Princes Street Gardens shows, the Queen's Hall will host performances by John Cale, Marc Almond, The Fall, and Ivor Cutler. ’T he idea was to pick out people who will do something special and make it a real festival, rather than just a bunch of people who
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- Get tea Flux: Tindersticks
have brought out albums and need to promote them,’ adds co-organiser David Sefton.
Progression is apparent. Nick Cave reappears with an expanded show after his first ever solo performances last year; while David Thomas (of Pere Ubu fame) also returns with The Pale Orchestra and guests Jackie Leven and Linda Thompson to the Queen‘s Hall after what was widely regarded as a highlight of last year's festival.
Further attempts to cross-pollinate mediums sees screenings in conjunction with the Edinburgh International Film Festival of Hitchcock's classic silent thriller The Lodger, scored by Joby Talbot of The Divine Comedy and performed by The Matrix Ensemble.
Doffing their cap to the world of electronica, the Flux organisers went to great lengths to attract Orbital north of the border: ’What tickled them,’ Sefton says, ‘was that they would have the best backdrop in the world - Edinburgh with the sun going down behind the Castle. They are making this their big show of the summer and are putting a huge effort into making it really special, but keeping their Scottish audience in mind. There will definitely be a few surprises.’ (Mark Robertson)
I Tickets for all Flux shows are on sale now at the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh on 073 7 658 2079.
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Perfect harmony: Ladysmith Black Mambazo
1964, founder member and factory worker Joseph Shabalala dreamed that ’children of many colours and cultures sang to me in tones and harmonies that were so unique and special that I knew they had to come to teach me the sound that I had been searching for.’ And if that sounds saccharine, you underestimate the man's sincerity. The group conSists mainly of family members, including his son Sibo, who talked to me from their home near Durban. 'We had to cancel the Scottish dates earlier in the year and fly home
, and made them Africa's most to be With my grandmother, Joseph's Ladysmith Black commercially successful outfit. mother, who was dying. It was the Mambazo The Zulu 'mbube' form of right thing to do and I know our
Glasgow: Royal Concert Hall, Wed 30 Jun.
Paul Simon's Graceland album first brought Ladysmith Black Mambazo to the world’s attention, but it's the ubiquitous Heinz TV adverts that have made their heavenly a cappella harmony part of the family furniture,
38 THE "ST 24 Jun—8 Jul 1999
unaccompanied harmony singing is at the root of the band's sound, but their Western influences and diverse collaborations create a unique synthesis.
The path that led them to Sing at Nelson Mandela's inauguration, and Oslo's 1993 Nobel Peace Prize presentation, started with a vision. In
audience will appreciate that. Right now we’re busy With the new album — proviSionally titled ln Harmony — and we're recording With guests, including the Lighthouse Family, in London.’
And do they enjoy all the travel? 'No problem. No instruments. Just a bag of clothes and a voice.’
(Norman Chalmers)
Surface noise
Musical news, feuds and rumours
NEW JERSEY singer/songwriter Ben Vaughn, whose lovely mini-album A Date With Ben Vaughn comes out on Shoeshine Records on Mon 12 Jul, will be joined by some local luminaries at his upcoming Glasgow gig. Label supremo and BMX Bandit Francis MacDonald, Radio Sweetheart Malcolm McMasters and Stevie Jackson from the ubiquitous Belle and Sebastian will provide the backing band at Maryhill Community Centre on Fri 25 Jun. Oddly, Vaughn's CV includes not only collaborations with Alex Chilton and Alan Vega, but also authorship of the theme tune for Third Rock From the Sun.
PLANET POP, the annual Edinburgh music festival, is set for its fourth year, running for three weeks concurrently with the Fringe (7-29 Aug). Those keen to evade a surfeit of stand-up comics, mime artists and journeys into interpretative dance should check out a diverse bill of talent both local and international; highlights confirmed so far include Icelandic nutters GusGus, rising stars Snow Patrol, Sparklehorse, Cha Cha Cohen and astrid.
The events will be staged at a number of venues, predominantly The Attic. New locations are being used this year on account of a disagreement with the Cas Rock bar manager Jooly Blackie over ownership of the festival’s name. The matter is currently in the hands of the Patent Office, and the organisers would like to stress that the festival remains independent both of the venues it is staged in, and of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
THE CONCERT FOR Kosovo at the Edinburgh Playhouse on Wed 30 Jun aims to raise. over £30,000 which will go directly to support programmes in the refugee camps of Albania and Macedonia. All the performers have waived their fees and the Playhouse has allowed the hire of the hall at a special low rate.
Planet Pop stars: Snow Patrol