For many
people the works of Robert Burns belong with one foot in the distant
past, and the other in the candlelit function rooms hired by the
affluent around the 25th of January.
Most
would accept that there's a half truth in that.
For many
years I considered the works of Burns indecipherable, and his poems
belonging to a class that was above my station.
That it
isn't the case is not something I would care to apologise for
misguidedly believing though.
The
reason that I will refrain from apologising is because it was my
reality.
The
blame, for this misguided view from my younger years can be laid at
the feet of those who participated in creating a certain
understanding of Burns.
The
people who treated him to a pr spin, and by doing so created a
version of the man who very often has no bearing on who he was.
Over
many, many years he has been physically taken from the inns and
fields where he regaled his peers, and found himself transplanted
into the parlours and personal libraries of the wealthy.
An
environment where he lives on within the pages of leather bound books
that reside on shelves, and very often behind glass displays that
would never fit in a council single end.
Apart
from a brush with Burns at school, he is often the look but don't
touch national Bard for many of us.
Thankfully
there are currently people who are looking to challenge this
perception, and in doing so drag Burns into the here and now for a
well overdue reappraisal of who he is, what he was saying, and how
his words are as relevant as they were when he lived and breathed the
Ayrshire air.
One of
the people, among many, who is doing this is Jamie 'Little Fire'
McGeechan who has went from casually championing the works of Burns
to actively pushing it to the fore.
His
latest project, designed to highlight that Burns belongs to us all,
is the recording of an album simply called 'Burns' that features ten
contemporary re-workings of his material.
Similar
to how there has been many reinterpretations of the plays of William
Shakespeare that have opened the door to a whole new appreciative
audience, this is a body of work that could do like wise.
It has a
quiet and relaxed feel to it that is beguilingly beautiful in its
folk inspired elegance.
Little
Fires voice is a magnificent vehicle for the material, and the
pairing of it with the words of Burns comes across as a match made in
heaven.
The album
in a strange way reminds me of when Bono introduced Helter Skelter
with 'This is a song Charles Manson stole from The Beatles. We're stealing it back', but in this instance Little Fire is stealing it back from those with the cut glass accents and a penchant for for fox hunting.
It's about time.
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