The Festival Cafe - day four
Post categories: Edinburgh Festivals
| 10:50 UK time, Friday, 19 August 2011
Here are the runners blogs for day four of The Festival Cafe...
Annabel Cooper
Tally ho' chaps, and welcome to day four of one's daily dispatch from the wireless village at Edinburgh's Potterrow. Today's was a frightfully jolly broadcast featuring the cast of , the exotic sounds of and friends, a showcase of Scottish musical talent courtesy of 'Kist' and a trip down memory lane to the Golden Age of radio, supplied by the simply marvellous . It seems that the latter may have rubbed off on one somewhat, as this frightfully cut glass English accent simply will not abate...
The guys from The Fitzrovia Radio Hour with nice hats!
Hm hm...right enough of that...as we move into our fourth day, the 'pop-up OB - outside broadcast - bubble tent', as us young hipsters like to call it, is starting to feel more and more like home and the production team are becoming sharper than a clipped Fitzrovian consonant. And it's a jolly good thing too because today's was definitely the most technically exacting show yet.
Several Guitars, one (a Senagalese stringed instrument), a selection of Brazillian drums, a number of effects pedals, a dozen or so mics, another guitar...we can cope with easily, but throw into the mix the Fitzrovian sound effects box and we're into unchartered territory.
Gavin Mitchell & Clare Waugh performing Casablanca
It was almost as if the Festival Café itself had become part of the act as the Fitzrovian's box of tricks overflowed on a specially mounted table in the centre of the stage with an itinerary that included: a machete(!), a partly sliced cabbage, a false door and lock, a single white rose, several miner's helmets, one Nazi uniform and a gong. Despite this audio minefield (can you imagine the chaos a dropped cabbage might cause!), the stage and production crew, and host Janice Forsyth barely batted an eyelid, gently escorting the guests to and fro with the style and ease of a Quickstep. Forget the 1940s, you're in the golden age of radio right here!
Joanne Smithers
Not wanting us earthbound dwellers to get too comfortable in the warmth, the festival gods obviously thought they should ca'canny with the sun and return us to a more familiar state of drizzle. But the gods couldn't keep us down and to combat it we created a show of such heavenly delights everyones spirits was raised to the rafters.
I was in charge of Antonio Forcione, Seckou Keita and Adriano Adewale from show Antonio Forcione (Assembly 18-19th 9-10pm). Antonio has been described as the Jimi Hendrix of acoustic guitar so I was prepared with fire extinguishers in case the comparison stretched to guitar torching but thankfully the sprinklers stayed off.
Antonio Forcione with Kora player Seckou Keita
And what a beautiful sound these guys make, they only have two shows left but I would definitely recommend trying to get along.
The show had a refined feel today, with Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut and Fitzrovia Radio Hour it was all very polite in the Green Room and terribly, terribly good fun. I was ashamed by our polystyrene cups and focaccia sandwiches. It didn't seem at all the done thing to be serving them to our guests, cucumber sandwiches and our best china would have been much more fitting.
The green room was very cosy as all our guests waited patiently for sound checks and other technical jiggery pokery. Musicians from The Kist with Fiona Kennedy, showcasing Scottish musical talent and heritage were rubbing shoulders with Antonio, Seckou and Adriano. I am not sure how much more we could physically fit in. Lucy, the venue manager, said if there was an award for which show packed the most in such a short period of time we would win and I am inclined to agree. What other awards you think we deserve? Let us know and be gentle.
Andy Mallon
Today's show featured fantastic musicians Antonio Forcione, who was performing with Senagalese Kora player Seckou Keita and Brazilian percussionist Adriano Adewale, and songstress Fiona Kennedy who joined Janice to talk about her great new show, The Kist. We were also treated to some theatrical delights from the cast of The Fitzrovia Radio Hour who performed for us in perfect Received Pronounciation - very posh! If that wasn't enough, Gavin Mitchell (Boabie the barman from Still Game!) and Clare Waugh performed an extract from Casablanca.
Fiona Kennedy and Kist
I looked after Fiona Kennedy and some great young musicians who are performing with her in her production The Kist. She was a true professional and the guys managed to power through their sound check in extra quick time as all of today's guests were doing a turn for us- at times it was a bit touch and go, but we pulled it off! She managed to strike an interesting balance between contemporary and traditional Scottish music, so if that sounds like your kind of thing Fiona et al are performing at The New Town Theatre at 9pm every night until the 21st August. And if you're not in Edinburgh, fear not, as Fiona will be performing in His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen from 25-27th August- she's a busy lady!
Tomorrow is a fun-filled show of comedy featuring actor and comedian extraordinaire , four men sketch group (yeh three, I'm confused too...), comedy cabaret trio and actor turned Tommy Cooper impersonator ! So join us tomorrow at 1315 for the last show of the week and follow all our updates via our twitter site . We'd really like to hear what you think of the blog, so add your comments below and tell us your favourite Festival Café act!
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