Following on from yesterday's Mardi Gras, today saw the Festival Parade come down The Mound to a Princes Street lined with spectators. Although we've already had the Film Festival, and the Jazz Festival has just got under way, this event is a kind of marker to recognise the Festival season in the city. With the big one just a few weeks away now.
The colourful line up took about forty minutes to shimmy past our viewing spot, and included drumming bands, samba bands, jazz bands, dancers, acrobats, a lengthy Chinese dragon and an aggressive looking bunch in lemon pyjamas. All ages were included and it had a strong community feel to the activities. Spectacular colours in costumes and make up, flamboyance a given, even a bit of decent music thrown in. And if some of the costumes had an amateurish feel to them that only added to the sense that this was an event that people wanted to be a part of, not just some marketing person's notion of a good time.
Best of all, the event began in strong sunshine, succumbed to a bit of crowd cover, but with no hint of rain. Yet.
For the rest of the afternoon we planned to take in some of the free outdoor jazz available around town. In the Grassmarket we came across a raucous young band playing a mix of jazz, latin, ska and rock and roll. Rumba de Bodas are a seven piece Italian group fronted by a Mediterranean version of Imelda May. What a fabulous strong voice.
A rocking good time under the shadow of the castle was spoiled a bit by arrival of a few drops of rain. Swiftly followed by a downpour. The trees provided a bit of cover, but not enough and much of the crowd headed for the pubs and cafes around. The band saw through their set, but further acts were denied their opportunity. Probably a wise move with all that electrical gear and only a flimsy canopy over the stage.
Still it was fun while it lasted, and it had felt a bit too hot earlier on - there were ginger locals in peril from that burny yellow thing in the sky. So a bit of refreshment was probably overdue. This city likes to provide a good mix of everything.
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