‘Auld Reikie’
Reid Concert Hall, 16/11/2024
Fergusson’s ‘Auld Reikie’, poetry read by Billy Kay, singers and musicians, Karine Polwart, Steve Byrne, Sara Hoy and Gary West.
I have been to many good concerts in the Reid Concert Hall over the years, but none compared to my experience of Saturday evening’s concert dedicated to the memory of Edinburgh’s greatest, yet little known, poet Robert Fergusson. What was special about this performance was the combination of great poetry, beautifully read by Billy Kay, and great Scots traditional music played by some of Scotland’s finest musicians, Karine Polwart, Steve Byrne, Sara Hoy and Gary West. What made it even more special was the way that Billy Kay blended the poetry with the music. As he explained, there was to be no applause until the end. What transpired was one and a half hours of music and verse which kept us spellbound until the end, when the packed audience roared its approval. Karine Polwart and the musicians then led us in singing ‘Auld Lang Syne’, the version that Burns and Fergusson would have sung back in the day. It was a fitting end to a great evening.
Robert Fergusson was born in 1750 in Edinburgh and died, tragically young, aged 24 in Bedlam, Scotland’s first mental hospital. Fittingly the proceeds of tonight’s concert go to the outreach work of the university in the field of mental health. In his short life Fergusson wrote some remarkable poetry, including ‘Auld Reikie’, which is his love song to Edinburgh and deserves to be its anthem. His work so impressed Robert Burns, Scotland’s greatest poet, that Burns paid for a headstone for Fergusson’s grave in the Canongate Kirk churchyard. Today that is complemented by the statue of Fergusson outside the Canongate Kirk, striding down the Canongate. Another famous neighbour in the Canongate Kirk is of course Adam Smith, who also lived on the Canongate for a time. These things remind you, if you need it, of the importance of Scottish culture.
Billy Kay is like me an Ayrshire man, indeed like me he went to Kilmarnock Academy ( a few years after me). He went on to Edinburgh University to study Scottish literature and since then has become a champion of Scots literature and language. In the ‘Edinburgh Music Review’ in August I reviewed Billy’s launch of his latest book ‘Born in Kyle’ at the Book Festival, an event which also used music – this time from Robyn Stapleton - to blend with his words. Billy in the past had put together a successful Edinburgh Festival Fringe show on Robert Fergusson, fittingly in the Bedlam Theatre, which is the site of the Bedlam Mental Hospital where Fergusson died. Billy skilfully presented a series of Fergusson’s poems, beginning and ending with ‘Auld Reikie’ with in between others of his poems which brought to life Edinburgh in the 18th century and gave us an idea of the importance of Edinburgh in the Enlightenment. In between, our musicians magically wove the music of Scots songs and tunes which were and are an important part of Scottish culture. It was magic indeed. I want to end by unusually quoting from another member of the audience, the great Gaelic actress, Dolina MacLennan, who posted this on my Facebook page late on Saturday evening. “It was beyond description. I felt saturated in the music. No applause until the end, song followed song, and fiddle and pipes, guitar and flute all blended and sound perfectly balanced. Totally engaged from beginning to end and the poetical voice linking it all was mesmeric. Had to come straight home in case I ‘lost it’. Still with me!”
I too felt like Dolina. I thought of going to Sandy Bells where the musical traditions continue, but instead walked slowly through the Quartermile where the old blends in with the new, where the University’s Futures Institute’s old tower shines brightly, and reflected how lucky we are to live in Edinburgh, a UNESCO world literature city with the greatest arts festival in the world (with next year’s programmes just announced). But tonight we learned how Auld Reikie in the 18th century had laid the foundations of today’s cultural capital and how much Robert Fergusson contributed in his short life to that culture. To that end let us end with the words of Robert Fergusson, “Reikie farewell I ne’er cou’d part wi thee, but wi a dowie heart”.
