DOUGLAS FIELD relishes the hard-boiled language, satire and humour of the third and last of the Harlem trilogy
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BEN LUNN celebrates the beautiful and subversive music of Eddie McGuire
ON SONG: (L to R) On the picket line with fellow composers 1980, a strike to save the Scottish Symphony Orchestra (SSO); Eddie McGuire addresses the STUC
[edwardmcguire.com]
STEPHANIE BROWN draws attention to the hidden labour of the female embroiderers, and how a 19th century replica made no such error
MIK SABIERS revels in a band that ploughs an idiosyncratic furrow of expletive laden, guitar-driven alt rock
ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Synthetic Sincerity, Our Hero, Balthazar, Heartstopper Forever, and A Year In London
The bard invites readers to a gig, raps for Clacton, and lays out the Burnham-Hurzeler conundrum
RON JACOBS recommends an important book that enhances the oppositional theories put forth by Fanon and, in doing so, remakes psychology itself
YOU can learn a lot about a composer, and a person, simply from the place you first meet them. My first encounter with Eddie McGuire was at a meeting of Radical Options for Scotland and Europe in the Unite offices in Glasgow. Since then, to this day, most of my encounters with the composer have been at a protest or rally rather than in a concert hall.
Shortly after I moved to Scotland, after my years living in Vilnius, I attended a Morning Star event (although I can’t remember for the life of me which) where Keith Stoddart deployed his usual charm and curiosity and quickly discovered I was a composer. His instant response was: “In Scotland you only need to know two composers James MacMillan and Eddie McGuire.”
Two very telling signs about a composer who celebrates his 75th this year.
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April 9 1928 – July 26 2025