For Perthshire poet Jim Mackintosh, his immediate response to the war in Ukraine was to ask himself a simple question; “what would Hamish Henderson do?”
The answer he gave himself on behalf of the late fellow poet and great Scottish internationalist Henderson was simple.
“He would stand up and say, ‘this isn’t right’,” says Mackintosh. “So what can we as a nation do to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine and say, this isn’t right?
“As a consequence of the concert, we’ll raise a bit of money – probably a drop in the ocean in terms of what’s really needed, but it’s something.”
First, he spoke to Lu Kemp, artistic director at Perth Theatre.
Lu helped make arrangements for Perth Concert Hall being available for this special fundraising concert in support of the Disaster Emergency Committee’s (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
Turning to the trad scene
Next, he needed a roster of talent to perform, and his thoughts turned to the trad scene.
Mackintosh is former poet-in-residence at St Johnstone FC and Makar of the Federation of Writers.
He recently celebrated the centenary of the Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown at Celtic Connections in Glasgow, performing alongside the fiddle player Duncan Chisholm and multi-instrumentalist Hamish Napier. They were his first ports of call.
“They said they’d be there, no question,” he says. “Then they asked, ‘Jim, have you thought about so and so? Here’s their numbers, go and phone them.’
“That would have been on the Tuesday or Wednesday, and by the weekend I had a full line up.
“I had Donald Shaw, Karen Matheson and Julie Fowlis, and each person would say in turn, ‘try this other person as well’.
“Eddi Reader is on the bill, Dougie Maclean has come in as well, and incredibly the entire Vale of Atholl Pipe Band will be involved, which is a wonderful local connection.”
30 artists and climbing
At the moment Perth Concert Hall’s website lists 30 artists, including the Makar of Scotland Kathleen Jamie writing a letter to the people of Ukraine in the form of a poem.
The website suggests more are to be announced.
It was Chisholm who recommended that Mackintosh programme the concert in democratic fashion, that there be no headline names.
Instead, each artist gets five or six minutes to sing a song, or perhaps play a couple of tunes.
An overwhelming response
“I’ve had phone calls in the last two or three days saying, ‘Jim, I’ll be there’,” say Mackintosh.
“I’ve had to say, I’m really, really sorry… I’m not mentioning names, but people that would have filled the place on their own. And I just can’t do it, because it wouldn’t be fair. We have to give everyone a meaningful period of time.”
Ukrainian opera singer
One special guest will be Glasgow-based Ukrainian opera singer Oksana Mavrodii, who will sing the Ukrainian national anthem.
She was recommended to theatre-maker Matthew Zajac by members of the Ukrainian Club in Edinburgh, where he’s on the committee.
The director of Dogstar Theatre, Zajac will be performing songs from his hit play The Tailor of Inverness, which examines his father’s early life in Ukraine before he moved to Scotland.
Video messages from friends
Zajac, who helped organise a recent protest outside the Russian Consulate in Edinburgh, has also arranged special video messages from friends in Ukraine.
“You can feel so distant from what’s happening, because it’s a long way away,” he says. “But my friends tell me how important it is to them and to their morale to see the support from the rest of the world.
“Things like the enormous demonstration in London the weekend before last really made a difference to people there. It’s just so important to keep what’s happening in the public eye and help educate people about ways they can help, and events like this help do that.”
‘It will be quite emotional’
Anyone from Ukraine who’s sought refuge in Scotland, says Mackintosh, is welcome to request a free ticket to the event.
“Whether that happens or not, I completely understand if people don’t want to,” he says. “It’ll be quite emotional. We’ve got video messages from people in Kiev, people standing in uniform whose day jobs are actors or politicians.
“There’ll be no glitz or glam about it, although people have permission to enjoy themselves. There’ll be a rise and fall of emotions throughout the evening, though.
“There’s no political message on the night, other than that it’s the political mess of the world that’s allowed this to happen.
“This is a concert hall the same size as the theatre in Mariupol in which all those people died. We know we’re lucky.”
The Concert for Ukraine is at Perth Concert Hall, Wednesday April 20. www.horsecross.co.uk
