What a brilliant idea. With the crucial EU referendum vote taking place tomorrow, a couple of days ago musician Aidan O'Rourke announced plans to stage a mass Strip the Willow outside the Holyrood parliament, as a means of demonstrating support for a Remain vote. And so we decided to take part. As Lau fans, as music fans, as convinced Remainers and, we hoped, as something vaguely resembling dancers.
Considering this event didn't exist forty eight hours before, the turn out was impressive. There must have been about forty musicians. Fiddles, accordions, guitars, banjos, bagpipes, whistles, bouzoukis, bhodrans, drums and even a clarsach. And close on two hundred dancers formed two lines and stripped that willow bare. Young and old, women and men, experienced and clueless, and everything in between. There were heavily pregnant women, and women with babies strapped to them. All joining in. Plenty of bystanders too but, more importantly, journalists and even a couple of TV crews. Both the BBC and Sky showed up to record short pieces, showing people having a great time, and the big support for Remain in Scotland. That's the important bit.
Other than receiving a salient reminder of just how unfit I am right now, it was great fun, and the atmosphere was one of enthusiastic joy. Enthusiasm for the music, for the dancing, for the company, and, most of all, for wanting to stay in the EU. Activist organisers take note - this is definitely how it's done!
No comments:
Post a Comment