Across Europe every year countless cities lay on arts festivals, many claiming that their festival is the biggest or the best on the continent. Edinburgh does not need to make any such idle boasts. The Scottish capital is home to the Edinburgh Festivals, the largest arts festival anywhere on the globe and an annual event that sees the city’s population double as culture vultures flock to the hallowed Edinburgh streets from all over the world.
A Global Get Together
The Edinburgh Festival dates back as far as 1947 when the city was still in the doldrums after its exertions during World War Two. Something was needed to re-inject life into Edinburgh and provide a focus for the city’s residents and hence the first Edinburgh Festival was born. Today’s festival bares little resemblance to those embryonic days as it is as much a global get together as it is a local event, with ‘Edinburgh’ now a name known amongst artists all over the world, everyone from street entertainers in Avignon through to opera singers in Milan.
Flurry of Festivals
Today it is a bit of a misnomer to call the summer’s events the Edinburgh Festival singular, as there are actually now a flurry of festivals including the Edinburgh International Festival itself, the Festival Fringe, the Book Festival and the Tattoo. The website www.edinburghfestivalcity.com covers all of the above and more.
Edinburgh International Festival
The Edinburgh International Festival was the main focus of the first festival and it is still the backbone of Edinburgh’s big event every year. It is housed in Edinburgh’s most impressive arts venues including the Usher Hall, the Festival Theatre, the Queens Hall and the Kings Theatre. It encompasses the more highbrow arts of opera, ballet and classical music, with world famous performers appearing every year.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Festival ‘Fringe’ kicked off in 1947 as an alternative to the major headline international stars that perform in the main arts festival. The Fringe very much still plays this role today by showcasing up and coming talents and often controversial productions that may not get a chance in more mainstream festivals. With the Fringe, booking ahead is less essential than the Edinburgh International Festival as no one is really sure which shows are going to be the most popular performances until they start . Main Fringe venues include the Gilded Balloon, the Pleasance and the Assembly Rooms.
An alternative to these increasingly slick Fringe performances are the smaller scale Fringe events that pop up in odd places all over the city, like old church halls and community centres. Pick one of these at random, struggle to find it and then sit back in an venue that could be packed, or just you on your own, for a performance that could be life affirmingly fantastic or excruciatingly painful. This sort of random, open-minded, dive into the cultural unknown is all part of the fun and the true spirit of the Fringe Festival.
Edinburgh Military Tattoo
The Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle is another component of the August festivals. The sight of the massed pipes and drums of the Scottish Regiments parading proudly beneath the floodlit castle ramparts is an unforgettable one. Unsurprisingly the tattoo is booked out solidly in advance every year as 200,000 visitors and locals alike flock to watch the Scottish regiments and international military bands perform in one of the world’s great settings. In recent years more eclectic performers have crept in to light up the pageantry with dancers, flag wavers and even camels and elephants joining in the big show.
Edinburgh Book Festival
Edinburgh Book Festival may have only started as a bi-annual event in Charlotte Square Gardens in 1983, but it has quickly gained acclaim and since 1997 it has become an annual event and yet another of Edinburgh’s August mega events. Over 70,000 visitors now pour through the gates to savour the readings, heated debates, interactive workshops, discussions and late night music sessions with a literary bent. There are normally over 300 authors from all over the globe taking part in around 400 events, with a healthy proportion of Scots now appearing, mirroring the renaissance in Scottish literature in recent years.
Street Entertainment
As well as the main festivals much of the fun is on the streets of the city themselves. Livening up the city centre, especially the Royal Mile, are street performers, everything from Charlie Chaplin-esque mime artists and classical dancers, right through to chaotic jugglers and the outrageous fire eaters, who elicit startled gasps from the passing tourists as they swirl petrol and flame in an intoxicating mix. Grab a prized seat in a Royal Mile café and just watch the hectic street life hustle by, but be prepared to be the subject of the entertainers public ridicule if you do not cough up some cash at the end of the show.
World’s Biggest Arts Festival
As the world’s biggest arts festival, with such a smorgasbord of events, ranging from glossy big name shows in headline venues right through to chaotic revues in community halls, it can all be quite confusing for the uninitiated. The best advice is to book a few big events before you arrive, including those prized Tattoo tickets, and then read up on the latest hot tips when you arrive. Also try hanging around at the buzzing Fringe venues and in Edinburgh’s Old Town bars picking up yet more tips, before cherry-picking the performances that most interest you. You can never see everything so it is best to spend your precious time wisely before you succumb to that inevitable Edinburgh Festivals burnout.
Cities all over Europe, from Avignon to Rome and Dubrovnik to Prague, all have their own arts festivals, but none comes anywhere near Edinburgh. Quite simply the Edinburgh Festivals is the biggest and the best, an unmissable event on the cultural calendar for arts lovers and travellers alike.
