GET LYRICAL IN FEBRUARY WITH A
MONTH-LONG CELEBRATION OF MUSIC AND SONG
Let's Get Lyrical, a month-long celebration of song lyrics, kicks off today (Tuesday, 1st February), with some of the UK’s finest writers, musicians and songwriters sharing their favourites lyrics and the stories why on the campaign website www.letsgetlyrical.com. Lloyd Cole, Ian Rankin, Kenny Anderson, Barbara Dickson, Janice Galloway, Mike Scott of The Waterboys, Eddi Reader, Rick Wakeman, Francis MacDonald of Teenage Fanclub and many others are sharing their stories and asking the UK to join in this lyrical fever.
Let's Get Lyrical offers a programme of over 80 events in Edinburgh and Glasgow in February, with live music, workshops, song-writing, storytelling, poetry, debates and films. Let's Get Lyrical is the fifth city-wide reading campaign created and run by Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature, this year in partnership with Glasgow UNESCO City of Music. Organisers picked song lyrics because they are the most far-reaching form of the written word, and seem to be so close to everyone's hearts. The organisers are asking everyone to share the stories about the lyrics they love through their website www.letsgetlyrical.com.
Let's Get Lyrical is also giving one aspiring songwriter the chance to witness their winning song lyric being jammed by Glasgow-based indie band Zoey Van Goey in a private session. Details of the competition, and how to enter, can be found on the website www.letsgetlyrical.com.
Whether you’re been inspired by the words of Lennon, Lionel or Lady Gaga, song lyrics have long been a topic for discussion over the water cooler or down the pub. Let’s Get Lyrical is a celebration of our favourite songs and lyrics - the soundtrack that carries us through life, and the expression of the written word everyone loves reciting and sharing.
Highlights of the public programme of events include:
EDINBURGH
· Why do Songs have Lyrics? An Evening of Words and Music – Tues, 1st Feb @ The Caves
Join King Creosote, bestselling author Iain Rankin, Mercury Prize Chair of Judges Simon Frith, and Ziggy Campbell of Found for an evening of words, music, expert (not always harmonised) tales from writers who pen lyrics, and some pretty brilliant acoustic performances.
· Underword: The Ghost of William Shatner – Weds, 23rd Feb @ The Caves
Can the words work without music? Seasoned writers and performance poets bring a stripped-down song to the stage – angry, passionate or ridiculous – and see if the lyrics can stand alone as spoken word. Reinterpretation, deconstruction or plain murder? You decide.
· The Voice of a City Family Day – Sat, 5th Feb @ Usher Hall
A day for all the family to celebrate The Voice of a City Family Concert. Learn traditional Scottish songs, bring the tiny ones to rhyme sessions, get the teenagers involved in a demonstration of how to set words to music, and try your hand at creating and playing music.
· Craig Schuftan’s Disco Lecture and Disco Club Night – Sun, 20th Feb @ The Bongo Club
One of the most respected Australian DJs and broadcasters, self-taught music scholar
and Berlin club night master, Craig Schuftan (aka The Schuf) comes to Edinburgh with his enormous music brain – and a bag of puns to match. Come to this hilariously entertaining lecture for the masses, a revelatory exploration of the addictive effects of disco music, with a soundtrack to match. Oh, and bring your dancing shoes – The Schuf is treating you to a post-lecture disco club night.
· A Lyrical Death Match: Cargo vs Chemikal – Sun, 27th Feb @ The Caves
Two of Scotland’s hottest cultural nests – Cargo Publishing and music label Chemikal
Underground – come head to head armed with prose, poetry and song. Authors Alan Bissett, Rodge Glass and Doug Johnstone, poet Ryan Van Winkle and emerging talent Kirstin Innes get up on stage to face former Delgado and revered singer-songwriter Emma Pollock, and the multi-talented Lord Cutglass and his band. Stand-up comedienne and author AL Kennedy referees the evening. Expect great music, and great writing at a great venue.
GLASGOW
· Rap & Hip Hop Lyric Composition Workshops – Tuesdays and Thursdays from 18th Jan @ City Halls ICT Suite
Rap and Hip Hop lyric and composition workshops for young musicians. Inspiration for challenging and culturally intense content will be sourced through the work of Glasgow giant literary icons James Kelman, Edwin Morgan and Alasdair Gray. Tuesday sessions are for age 16+ (no upper age limit) and Thursdays is 12 – 18 year olds.
· Gaelic lyrics competition – Thurs 20th January-Sat 26th March, to enter go to www.glasgowlife.org.uk/gaelicarts
Have you got a favourite Gaelic song lyric, saying or line for a poem? Is there anything that makes you laugh, cry or takes you back to your childhood or favourite place?
In the build up to this year’s Leabhar‘s Craic (March 26th), Scotland’s Gaelic Literature Festival, we are inviting everyone to put their thinking caps on and nominate a favourite line of text from Gaelic. The best entry will win £100. The final selection of lyrics will be used in a piece of art work that will be used to promote Gaelic Arts in Glasgow.
· Let’s Get Lyrical at Poetry @ The Ivory – Weds, 9th Feb @ The Ivory Hotel
Headline poet and musician Gerry Cambridge [with accompaniment] will create a performance piece based on an adaption of his own and the work of other poets, converting it to lyrics with music. Other invited readers will share their own work inspired by song lyrics, or that they have discovered written by other lyrically inspired famous poets.
· Kids Get Lyrical – Mon, 14th Feb – Wed, 16th Feb @ City Halls
Looking for something to do in the February break? These will be fun, action packed sessions which don’t ask for any X factor audition - just a willingness to have a go. (suit P5 – P7 age group)
As well as the extensive programme of events, thousands of song lyric cards and bookmarks being distributed across arts and leisure centres, libraries, cafes and schools.
Ali Bowden, Director, Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust said: “Over the last five years we’ve run lots of projects in all sorts of areas but we’d always secretly wanted to do something on song lyrics because they have huge power, and in our City of Literature we’re passionate about the power of words. When Glasgow was designated a UNESCO City of Music, then we knew we had our excuse and our chance to get lyrical! We’re hoping folk will hop onto the website and share their story of how the words in a particular song move them the way they do. Our events programme is bigger and more diverse than ever – thanks to the great work our partners do. And we’re pleased Glasgow has joined us this year – we think lyrics fever is set to take over Scotland’s two creative cities...”
Louise Mitchell, Director, Glasgow UNESCO City of Music said: “This is a very exciting programme for us to work together with Edinburgh on something which is open to everyone and anyone. We’re looking forward to hearing all the stories and welcoming all lovers of the written word to our programme of events in February.”
Dr Gavin Wallace, Literature Portfolio Manager, Creative Scotland said: “I read album sleeves and memorised song lyrics long before I could call myself a disciple of poetry and literature, and I know I'm by no means alone: song lyrics at their best - and often at their worst! - are literature in its most fundamental, democratic, and universal form. The Let's Get Lyrical campaign is nothing less than a stroke of lyrical genius, not least for bringing Scotland's two great UNESCO creative cities into happy and fruitful collaboration as the ultimate song-writing duo – Glasgow hums, Edinburgh plays along! Or is it the other way round? Let’s find out!’
The Rt. Hon. George Grubb, Lord Lieutenant and Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, said: "Edinburgh has nurtured some of the world's finest wordsmiths, both in prose and in songwriting. We're delighted to be supporting the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust in a campaign which brings these two spheres of words and music together, encouraging everyone to celebrate and engage with an important part of our history and popular culture."
The Rt. Hon. Bob Winter, Lord Lieutenant and Lord Provost of the City of Glasgow, said: "Everyone in Glasgow, young and old, loves a song. Our status as a UNESCO City of Music reflects our passion for all things musical, and that includes our appreciation for the lyric or the story that combines with a tune to make a work of art. This campaign is a chance for our citizens to share their favourites, and the lyrics which may well have coloured and changed their lives.”
To see the full calendar for events, or to upload your own favourite lyric, go to www.letsgetlyrical.com.
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