Singer-songwriter Calum Baird reports on the capital city’s 2023 May Day Cabaret, sponsored by Edinburgh and Lothians May Day Committee and Democratic Left Scotland
The Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh was the venue for a show kicking off a week of events in Edinburgh to mark International Workers’ Day.
The Great May Day Cabaret was the latest ‘Rise Up’ event – a series produced by Fair Pley in collaboration with the Scottish labour and trade union movement.
The aim is to add cultural dynamics to the increased industrial action, organising and other trade union activities which have taken place around the country over the last 12 months. As well as offering a unique blend of union activity and the live arts to the public, the Rise Up shows are a push back against the gentrification, commercialisation and de-politicisation of social and cultural spaces in Edinburgh today.
On 30 April, Rise Up was compered by the incomparable Susan Morrison, and included a fantastic line-up of live music, poetry and comedy, featuring Victoria McNulty, Rosa Moxham, and John Scott. As working people organise and fight back against the government and corporate greed, I was delighted to be on the bill alongside these other performers bringing the music. It’s important to have cultural events like this coming out of the trade union movement right now, particularly as more and more people demand an alternative to decades of stagnation and declining living standards. Rise Up shows are a valuable and enjoyable space and platform for artists to express themselves as well.
Published June 2023.