Music: Stolen From A Crow

Stolen from a Crow is the unusual alter ego of Crispin Case-Leng, a singer, songwriter and poet who believes in pushing boundaries within music and performance in a quest to leave the mainstream far behind.

Influenced by a range of artists as broad as his own creative horizons, he spent his early years experimenting with diverse ideas in music and poetry. His lyrics are unconventional, with themes ranging from observations on human interactions, through to darkly comic fairy tales about werewolves and winged messengers between worlds. His instrumentation is similarly off-centre and genre-defying, dipping into seemingly incompatible areas like punk, folk and art rock, yet managing to blend them together into something new and exciting. Read more…

Podcast: David Greig Talks About W S Graham And His Poetry

WS Graham was a self taught poet from Greenock who left Scotland in his twenties to live in Cornwall where he spent the rest of his life.

“I became passionate to discover more about him and why he had been neglected both in his lifetime and to a degree still now. The neglect of his work is particularly painful in Scotland where Hugh Macdiarmid’s school of politics and scots language work sidelined Graham.” Here David Greig talks about this great poet and how he has influenced his work over time…. Read more…

Putting Ragged Music Into Action

The Ragged project has been formed of the people who have got involved, bringing their ideas, wants and needs to be realised over time, in and through a like-minded community.

At one point four musicians asked where music fitted with the project and they were told that it would fit wherever and however they made it fit.  The result was the groundwork of Ragged Music which was particularly headed up by Dan Zambas and Gary Boast. Read more…

Is Plastic Really Fantastic? by Faith Canter

Plastics have been around since the 1940s. They’re used all over the world and are commonplace in our everyday lives. So what exactly is plastic and where does it come from?

There are actually a few natural plastics, but for the most part, the plastics we use are manmade and most come from crude oil (although some come from coal and natural gases). Plastic, petrol, paraffin, lubricants and petroleum gases are all bi-products of the refining process of crude oil. Read more…

Music: The Story So Far

Back from 1985, and still full of fire!

The Story So Far…

In the far off days of the mid 1980s, Edinburgh indie band The Story So Far was busy on the scene, appearing at the Nite Club, Astoria, Wee Red Bar, Potterrow, La Sorbonne and many other venues. The band played a heady mix of pop, funk, new wave, punk, rock, ska, reggae, jazz and blues, always with passion and surreal humour.Then, after a storming set at La Sorbonne on 28 January 1985, the band disappeared from the gig scene.
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Music: Simply Soweto Encha

Simply Soweto Encha, formerly known as Africa Entsha, are a five-piece a cappella group that sing gospel, soul, jazz, doo-wop, and R’n’B both in African and popular styles.

In their shows, Simply Soweto Encha celebrate South African oral and dance traditions by performing Zulu, Xhosa and Tswana songs, full of rhythm and harmonies. Dumi, Jabu, Morgan, Lwazi, and Sbu all come from the Soweto township where they have developed their talents being inspired by rich local culture. Discovered in Johannesburg, the group have toured across Europe to share their unique music style since 2008.
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Interview With An Educator: Peter Shukie

This is an interview with Peter Shukie who works at Blackburn University Centre teaching Lecturing in Education Studies.

Peter is working with peers to help create and share innovative approaches to teaching and learning. He works from the perspective that diversity and individually held skills help generate a diverse landscape in which educators and learers can be supported, encouraged and celebrated. Read more…