We’ve Earned the Right to be Free

In the first of a brand new series here’s Citizen Smart with a specially Bella commissioned song. If the independence movement was looking for an anthem, we could do a Continue reading →

Bella on the Pop Cop’s Indie Indy Survey

With just 500 days until Scotland’s independence referendum takes place on September 18, 2014, The Pop Cop asked 40 musicians from the Scottish music scene the same question that will Continue reading →

Gotcha

Here’s our Top 20 of Maggie’s Jukebox… 1. Tramp the Dirt – Elvis Costello 2. Fascist Groove Thang -  H 17 3. Ghost Town – The Specials 4. Stand Down Continue reading →

Something For The Weekend? Our Fuzzy Friday Top 5

1. GO WILD IN THE COUNTRY (FORTINGALL) Strictly speaking our Fuzzy Friday feature is about events in Scotland that Bella thinks worthy of flagging up to our perpetually curious, open-minded Continue reading →

Restless Fugitive

Willy Mason, sold out this Sunday at Big Oran’s … here’s why …

The Powers And The Glory Of Love

 

Happy David Bowie Day!

by Kevin Williamson The whole world, it would seem, has fallen back in love with David Bowie.  Today (on his 66th birthday) Bowie released Where Are We Now?  - his first Continue reading →

Culture is a not an industry. Creative Scotland n’est pas une pipe.

by Kevin Williamson “One-dimensional thought is systematically promoted by the makers of politics and their purveyors of mass information. Their universe of discourse is populated by self-validating hypotheses which, incessantly Continue reading →

Book Review: Thinking in Pibroch

Dougie Strang reviews Voicing Scotland, a new publication written by musician Gary West and published by Luath Press THINKING IN PIBROCH Voicing Scotland is a timely examination of the nature and Continue reading →

Marriage Counselling

Record company Solareye has just put together a wee DIY vid for ‘Marriage Counselling’, a song from Stanley Odd’s recently released ‘Reject’ album which takes in both sides of the Continue reading →

Neu! Reekie! #23

    Aside from Bella Caledonia an arts project I’m heavily involved with is Neu! Reekie!  Neu! Reekie! is a monthly anti-cabaret now based at Edinburgh’s Summerhall arts complex.  The Continue reading →

State Hospital EP

This is great …

The Beautiful North

Someone much cleverer than I once said Edinburgh is not the Athens of the North, it is the Reykjavík of the south. The southern part of the ‘North’ an area Continue reading →

Martyn Bennett, 1971-2005

“Try and find those things that make us Scottish. They are not necessarily tartan, but are no less colourful. They are in the sound of the kick drum, the bass line, the distortion, the punk guitar, the break-beat. Try and see the old ways in new surroundings.”

Caledonia

Terminally bored by the perennial national anthem debate. It’s Flower of Scotland, get over it. Here’s the wonderful Louis Jor­dan and his Tym­pa­ny Five play…

Scotland’s Greatest Album, Corrected

STVs Scotland’s Greatest Album has missed out on some classic music. But it’s okay, we’re here to help…

Always got a Line for the Ladies…

We would like to distance ourselves from this sick association. The Tories are waging a war on the disenfranchised. They are the enemy…

The Gillie Mor: A Celebration of Hamish Henderson & the Folk Tradition in Caithness & Sutherland

By Kevin Williamson If I was back in my old stamping grounds of Caithness this weekend this is where I’d want to be: at the celebration of Hamish Henderson and Continue reading →

The First Minister, the blogosphere, and a 2000 year history of Scotland’s languages

By Kevin Williamson First things first.  We’d like to congratulate our friends at Newsnet Scotland for what is quite a scoop. Namely, persuading Scotland’s First Minister to pen a thoughtful Continue reading →

Marra, Gaughan and Mathieson

We kick off our Burns week (#bellasburns) with some great music from Michael Marra, Dick Gaughan’s favourite song of all time (which says everything it is possible to say about Continue reading →

Lennon vs Bono

By Mark Engler Effective celebrity activists use their fame to bring attention and credibility to legitimate representatives of social movements. That, in a nutshell, is my standard of celebrity activism Continue reading →

Liar Liar Liar

Thanks to Murdo for this from THE Captain SKA…”Liberal values at the heart of British Government”

Maggie’s Jukebox

20 Years ago today the Tories turned on Margaret Thatcher as she had become a massive electoral legacy, much as Blair did 17 years later.  While few shed a tear Continue reading →

Bhundu Boys

Today would have been Hugh MacDiarmid birthday. Norman MacCaig called for it to be celebrated with “two minutes pandemonium’. Enjoy the Bhundu Boys singing Hugh MacDiarmid’s My Foolish Heart…