Showing posts with label burns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label burns. Show all posts

Thursday, 30 November 2023

New Scottish Art Galleries BURNS excluded

 



Burns and other poets) wrote with Scots voices and language - why is Robert Burns not included here?

At a time when mainly English Tory unionist voices were being heard late 1700s. No other writer has done more than burns. I was taken back, at the new Scottish galleries that there is only one mention of DB, with regard his The Hunt poem and an Edinburgh tea room painting. 

Its wonderful to see the new galleries. I realise Scott lived in Edinburgh, but Burns was there for quite a few months over the late 1786 and into 1787, and he was greatly influenced by his time there – he visited the men’s clubs – the Crochallan Fencibles Anchor close; William Creech’s bookshop and publishing house, at the Luckenbooths near St Giles, where each day the great and the good met; and the literary parties that Burns was invited to, where he met the renowned scholars of the Scottish enlightenment. He also met the great love of his life late 1786, Agnes McLahose: (his Clarinda) who he wrote many love letters to and his famous song of parting Ae Fond Kiss.

 

Scott may have been read widely in 1800s – but to my mind (and most other Scots) Burns is our national hero and bard. We was painted by his good friend, the artist Alexander Nasmyth – on their walks to Rosslyn.





As i walked around the Scottish art I thought
  - which Scotland are we emboldening and remembering here? After the first section covering the romantic period – we enter the brighter more modern period, with the windows open to the east Princes st garden views. 

I felt that the Burns creative legacy was a deliberately forgetting – Question? does his writing influence Scottish art. Burns was himself influenced by art – the symbolism and spiritual connection between the natural world, the creative fires and the established church teachings from his father – where dance was frowned upon. These strong interconnections.

He was influenced by the Ossian poems –by James MacPherson as the first Scot’s bard and also by other great poets. Burns was writing and collecting song before Scott – in fact he met the young 16 year old Scott at an Edinburgh literary party and Scott wrote about Burns after this great meeting. 

 

Burns was influenced by art and the close ties between our emotional life and nature – when he wrote one of the best love songs ever written - "Till a’ the seas gang dry, my Dear/ And the rocks melt wi’ the sun/ I will luve thee still, my dear, While the sands o’ life shall run."

It is hard to believe that Burns didn’t influence Scottish art with all the myths, memorabilia, statues and more that surround the great poet. Even so, his songs and poems were not enough to prevent the forgetting that occurred across Scotland over the 1800s. Today, as Lesley Riddoch writes in her 2023 book Thrive, ‘Scots know of William Wallace and Robert Bruce but nothing in-between up to modern times. Only in the past few decades have Scots recognised other great Scots from the 1980s onwards – with statues to James Clerk Maxwell and Adam Smith.

 

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novelist Walter Scott

Scots bard Robert Burns
II   The galleries hold 60,000 works of Scottish art – from David Willkie, Alexander Nasmyth, Andrew Geddes, The Glasgow boys impress, particularly James Guthrie, and grand displays of William McTaggarts work.  

BUT Which Scotland – the empty Scotland or militarised? The proud Scotland or the shot stag. Romance or reality; mountain or flood;Ttory or Jacobin?

 

At the start of the exhibition there is an emphasis on the influence of Walter Scott’s historical fiction – Waverly and Heart of Midlothian. Scott was the inventor of historical novel. There is the claim “Nobody did more to popularise Scotland than Scott.’ There are photos of the construction of the imposing Scott monument nearby. David Octavious Hill’s pioneering photography, (a photography department at RSA 1857). On display is the painter John Drummond, and David Allan’s’ paintings of everyday life, the Porteous Riots.

*But I was surprised and saddened no mention of our great bard Robert Burns.


Moving on into the bright lit galleries with windows looking out onto east Princes st gardens displaying more modern art – the Glasgow boys, William McTaggert – The Sailing of the Emigrant ship, who was influenced by Constable 1776 – 1837 and Turner (1775- 1857). The Impressionist and Japanese print influences – of James Guthrie, Arthur Melville, Edward Arthur Waltour.



James Guthrie


Symbolism and Celtic revival 1890s - the alternative world of dreams, myths and visions. 
With John Peploe, George Leslie Hunter. And good to see several wmen artists – Frances Campbell Cadell, Anne Redpath. Margaret Macdonald, 

There is so much to be impressed with here and both the particular Scottish influence of Scotland soft ever changing light. The weather beaten and mountainous landscapes – the Celtic Ossian, Gaelic poetry, alongside other great Scots scholars and poets 1700s - Dunbar, Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns - who kept Scot’s voices alive. 

And of course Walter Scott’’s historical novels, which were popular worldwide. Political philosopher Tom Nairn criticised Scott - that he told of a ‘romanticised Scotland’ that was gone and lost forever’. This led to Scotland’s literacy voice being lost over the 1800s.

 


  

Friday, 30 December 2022

BURNS memorial window St Giles

 

Burns Memorial window St Giles


I have wondered that there is no memorial to Burns in central Edinburgh. I discovered after visiting there is a new memorial window to Burns in St Giles – commissioned in the 1980s. However it is not highly noticeable without reading all the blurb. Edinburgh had a big effect on Burns when he stayed there several times between 1786 and 1788, in order to publish his second edition of poems. He spent time at William Creech’s publishing house near the Mercat Cross. He went to gentlemen’s clubs and was feted at the ploughman poet at the parties of the Edinburgh literati. 

One of Breidfjörd’s largest commissions, this window celebrates major themes in Robert Burns’ poetry. Burns was a Scottish poet who lived during the 1700s. He is celebrated throughout England and Scotland as a great peasant-poet. Most of his poem was written in Scots and portrayed traditional Scottish culture.  

In the window, the lowest section is filled with vivid green in order to represent the natural world. The middle sections represents human unity through the many different human figures portrayed. This is supposed to be regardless of race, colour or creed. 

The top portion portrays a sun with a heart being a sunburst of love which blossoms like a rose. The window panes that surround this portion appear to be shaped like a heart

http://www.stgilescathedral.org.uk/history/architecture/burnswindow.html

Friday, 8 January 2021

Celtic Connections first online festival 2021!


Transatlantic Sessions 2020

At this cold and dark time of year the accomplished and melodic fires of music light up our hearts and the evening skies

 

Celtic Connections, the world's biggest winter folk festival, first online festival will celebrate the musical connections, accomplished musicians, perfect melodies, musical traditions and much more. Its hard to explain what its like to miss the buzz that surrounds folk festivals and the importance to our lives of live music. So I'm looking forward to seeing some top class Celtic concerts online and on the BBC

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MUSICIANS IN THESE DARK TIMES 


Celtic Connections has now listed their first online digital festival. 

Some photos for the Danny Kyle stage.






The festival will run from Friday 15th January to Tuesday 2nd February 2021Follow the conversation at @ccfest

TICKETS AND PROGRAM - : www.celticconnections.com

SOME HIGHLIGHTS

Monday 25th January

*BBC Scotland channel: BURNS NIGHT with the BBC SSO, EDDI READER and KAREN MATHESON 7pm - 8pm 

 

*Some of CELTIC CONNECTIONS festival will be on BBC Alba

Friday 15th January Celtic Connections 2021 Online Celebration Concert (Various Artists) 7.30pm - 9pm £10 On BBC ALBA: EP1 Cuirm@Celtic Connections: Duncan Chisholm 9pm 

Monday 18th January - Come Away In with Karine Polwart, Eddi Reader, Rab Noakes, Siobhan Miller & Finlay Napier 7.30pm - 9pm £7

 

Wednesday 20th January   Blue Rose Code - Karen Matheson - LYRE - Rory Butler 7.30pm - 9pm £7

 

Friday 22nd January - Blazin Fiddles - Xabier Diaz - Gnoss - Deirdre Graham 7.30pm - 9pm £7. On BBC ALBA: EP2 Cuirm@Celtic Connections: The Staves 9pm

Sunday 24th January - The Secret Sisters - Kinnaris Quintet - An Tobar Presents 7.30pm - 9pm £7

Friday 29th January -  Transatlantic Sessions with Special Guests 7.30pm - 8.30pm £10

Saturday 30th January - Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi - Kris Drever - Dean Owens with Joey Burns (Calexico) 8pm - 9.30pm £7


Musical Director Donald Shaw - “The resounding feeling that has come out of the recording days is a space for musicians to come back, to play again, to feel part of the community that they helped to create. The last time a lot of the contributing artists performed was at Celtic Connections 2020 and now they are back playing as part of the festival one year on after what has undoubtedly been the hardest year of their careers. We feel incredibly proud that as a festival, along with our funding partners, we have allowed for this safe space for them to play again, embrace their creativity and ultimately give them hope that there is a future for them within this industry.”


Aly Bain


 The Celtic Connections online festival will begin one week today. Across 19 days, the festival will present over 30 online performances between Friday 15th January and Tuesday 2nd February 2021.

World class concerts will be available to view online with some of the biggest names on the Scottish music scene and beyond appearing on screens across the world as part of the winter festival. Celtic Connections has created unique digital content from specially commissioned projects and performances filmed across many of Glasgow’s much-loved venues. International artists have also contributed to the eclectic line-up by recording performances remotely.

Traditionally, the festival welcomes over 100,000 attendees to Glasgow, a UNESCO City of Music, and on announcing the digital-first festival organisers hoped it would appeal to the wide international audience they usually see attending the festival. The 19-day event undoubtedly has caught the attention of music fans across the world with festival passes purchased in 35 countries already. With the festival’s global audiences in mind, they have allowed for all shows to be available for a week after they are first streamed to alleviate any restrictions for different time zones enjoying the range of content.  


Donald Shaw, Creative Producer for Celtic Connections, said: “The announcement of the full festival programme today marks a huge moment for me and the wider team. The concept for a digital-first Celtic Connections was borne out of a desire to promote wellbeing and optimism amongst fellow musicians as much as it was about still being able to offer entertainment to our loyal Celtic Connections audiences during the dark nights of January. 


John Paul White


Rab Noakes

Eddi Reader and the RSNO