Providers of a Little Discourage,

The central theme arising from the books I have read recently is that of identity and belonging. In one of these books, Rebus’s Scotland, Ian Rankin discusses how it feels to be from Fife and how Fifers always have a stronger bond to their Kingdom than others do to their region. Pride in one’s hometown or country is commonplace but rarely do people talk lovingly of their region or county specifically. Maybe it is easy to identify with Fife due to its size, Ian Rankin talks about how the small region of Fife clings onto its individuality between Edinburgh and Dundee, whose own council authorities were once in line to divide and share responsibility for Fife.

Whenever I’ve left Fife, I am always struck by how much I miss Fife’s pace of life. The fishing communities along the east differ from the mining towns in the west, the farming outposts and the industrial and service towns in between, but that doesn’t mean that Fifers necessarily only feel bound to their hometown. Through learning, working, shopping, playing sports, riding the train and sightseeing, all of Fife is familiar to me. This week, I was asked how long it would take to drive to Fife; naturally, I asked where they wanted to visit in Fife and they became confused. I had spent so long talking (warmly) about Fife that they believed it was a town; this emphasises the point that other people identify themselves by their hometown.

Maybe Fife has let me down my whole life and I don’t know it, but where I feel let down by Fife is in its lack of events and entertainment. Fife doesn’t hold an attraction for performers and it’s easy to see why. Recently, a music festival, featuring prominent brands in the industry and in aid of charity, ran at a loss. I saw for myself only last weekend when Adam Smith Theatre was less than a third full for the visit of Roddy Woomble, one of the country’s best voices and songwriters.

As we filtered into the theatre, I felt sympathy for the band, the people of Fife had let them down. From their performance, it was clear that they did not feel sorry for themselves and Roddy impressed me with his chatter to Kirkcaldy. In any case, we were not to blame - we were the Fifers who had bothered to attend.

The gig served as a cosy reminder of how wonderful Roddy’s two solo albums were and how much I love violins. In the stripped back version of You Held the World in Your Arms, Seonaid Aitken’s violin is at its most striking. It seems natural that this song should survive to Roddy’s solo shows given the use of strings in the original Idlewild version. When I think of other Idlewild songs that could possibly be exploited by Roddy, Seonaid, Sorren and Craig, I struggle and come to the conclusion that most are best stored away in the quality archive.

I left with a promo poster (not a difficult task to attain, mere politeness isn’t a chore for me), anticipation of the new album and a hope that Roddy would return to the Kingdom. I urge everyone to bring a friend.