Ade
Edmondson and the Bad Shepherds
This was my MK International Festival treat. I've wanted
to see the Shepherds, who fuse my two favourite types of music, for years but
never quite managed it. On Monday evening I wasn't disappointed as I heard the
poetry of punk sung to music played on folk instruments.
To put this in context I am part of the generation which
grew up on the Comic Strip....that bit too young for both Python and Not the
Nine O'Clock News. Adrian Edmondson was one of my comedy heroes as a teenager.
To see him singing my favourite songs was amazing, quality wouldn't have really
mattered, although I was glad the quality was excellent. Edmondson and the two
other musicians with him were really good players.
There were a few particularly strong songs in the set,
which wasn't exclusively punk...The Smiths, Madness and Motorhead all crept in.
Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, White Riot, Rise and Girlfriend in a Coma
all stood out for me. There was moving moment was when he announced Ace of
Spades was Rik Mayall's favourite song, before playing it.
Lucie
Lom: Les Reveurs (The Dreamers)
Ok, I've talked about these figures before. They have
been moving around MK though & I wanted to talk about the way they worked
in different contexts. In the Fred Roche Gardens they were most artistic. They
seemed least out of place there, in the shadow of the dome of the Church of
Christ the Cornerstone. It is in some ways a lost part of MK and they
were almost like the ghosts of men who originally devised this new town whose
dreams and visions have probably been fulfilled and destroyed in equal measure
in the MK of today.
In the artificial atmosphere of the shopping centre they
had less character, just confusing the kids as to whether they were living
statues or not.
Ray
Lee: Chorus
I encountered the large tripods in the Fred Roche Gardens
where they looked like something out of one of those late '70's/ early '80's
sci fi programmes which often included some future after nuclear war.
The ambient sounds coming out filled the gardens,
spilling out on to Midsummer Boulevard. The office workers taking their usual
route too and from the shopping centre for lunch had a mixture of mild
amusement and WTF looks on their faces. This was the sensible reaction.
Yet the local glitterartsy who seemed to be out in force
in the early summer sunshine had their usual earnest looks and polite smiles.
Me, I laid on the grass listening hoping in vain the bass
beats would come in and the tempo would increase, which of course I knew they
never would. Rather the intense sounds continued to merge like some kind of
early '90's chill out room for those who would have been prog rock fans if born
a decade earlier.
PITCH
Pup tents with artists plying their trade alongside local
charities, including the Red Cross (whose tent is pictured below) and activists. This was a real community arts event, as all the
Fringe events have tended to be. However, the site in the City Square, was like
a sun trap and it was too hot to stay around for long.
Hilarie Bowman had the advantage you could sit under a
tree and watch her short performance on climate change which was seeking to
educate people about the fee and dividend campaign.
Rob Winn, the local Venture FX guy, was part of the LoveMK Volunteer Collective who were producing a World Vision child friendly space
and giving out copies of Is it Morning by Deborah Fielding and illustrated by
Toria Macleod which went out with Greenbelt tickets one year.
Extremely talented local artist Suzanna Raymond, whose
photography and film I have enjoyed at MK Gallery exhibitions and events in the past was there with
her Invisible Sketch project which invited people to draw their journeys.
The Actors Tent were in the amphitheatre doing a version
of Whose Line is It Anyway. I have to say if it had been a bit cooler I may have
enjoyed it more. They were a talented group of young local actors doing their best in difficult weather.
Festival
of Nations
The Festival of Nations was the final MK Fringe event and
involved a range of artists inside and outside of the Arts Central building.
Once I finally got in and up to the third floor, which is
a mission in itself with the signing in and out involved where everybody has to
stand around one book I caught the second half of the Harmanics set. This was a
great set of traditional folk songs. I particularly enjoyed their rendition of
Scarborough Fayre.
It was really good to see the place buzzing and lots of
people from different ethnic backgrounds buzzing about.
During the time I was in there they had a couple of storytelling
sets which showed why it is an art form. I underline this point having seen an
email with a request from John Lewis in Milton Keynes recently which was asking
for volunteers to come in and do storytelling slots over the summer. This email
made me so angry because as I say telling is an art form done by professionals
such as Theresa Kelleher and Red Phoenix who were giving great sets at Arts Central for the Festival or John Row
who wasn't there but you may have seen at Glastonbury, Guildfest or Cambridge Festivals amongst
other places. At the very least John Lewis should have been employing young
actors such as those from the Actors Tent if they wanted more of the reading
out of books and dressing up type of variation on the theme. The email and
practice underlines how this apparently ethical business often still has a long
way to go. (Anyway rant over and back to the festival).
The whole Festival of Nations was a testament to the hard
work of a group of people including Chinwe Osaghae who was one of the key
organisers. Chinwe is a poet, playwright, artistic lifecoach and a whole lot
more and is one of the people based in Arts Central. Karen Kodish is also based
in this arts hub. She is a professional photographer who was running around a lot during the event and I look forward to seeing some of the work she produces.
My favourite exhibit in the accompanying art exhibition
was Melanie Watts Street Art from Valparaiso which was almost animation cartoon
like in style but mixed the traditional with the modern in a clever way.
Tunde
Jegede in the Pentalum
The Pentalum produced by Architects of Air and made in Nottingham is amazing. It is like a huge inflatable
which you go and walk about inside, through a range of amazing shapes and
colours. It has several domes which are connected. It's located in the shopping
centre. At £4 a go for wander round I'd recommend it.
I went in during the week and felt it was a special space
which is probably best described as walking about inside the Tardis and that I
really wanted the chance to chill in it at a point there weren't loads of kids
getting excited and to hear some music in it. That's how I found myself getting a ticket to
listen to a kora and cello player when I don't really do classical music. Now
it turns outs I really like the sound of the kora which is a 21 string instrument
and can bear the cello when I have pretty shapes and colours to distract me and
there is space I can wander around in when my attention goes.
Tunde Jegede's music was I have to admit beautiful and
whilst I sat in a pod a little bit removed from the main dome he was in I could
see real music lovers were absolutely captivated watching him play. I
recognised one or two of the people in the audience as people who I know have a
really professional knowledge and know what's outstanding, they were lapping it up.
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