If you thought there could not be a more Edinburgh-centric show than James Graham’s Make It Happen, with its appearances from Adam Smith and figures from the city’s once great banks, well think again. In Windblown, Karine Polwart commemorates an Edinburgh institution of similar longevity. And she does it exquisitely.
Her focus is the sabal palm that stood in the Royal Botanic Garden for more than 200 years and, even before that, grew in the original gardens at the top of Leith Walk. It outgrew the original glass house within decades and towered over generations of visitors until, in 2021, this oldest living specimen in the collection had to be chopped down.
You might have expected a protectionist response from Polwart, but she does not question the necessity of the renovations to the Victorian palm houses that are now under way as part of the Edinburgh Biomes project, designed to secure the future of the collection’s 13,500 plant species. Rather, her tone is elegiac, not least because this is also a lockdown-era story, haunted by loss and the need for reflection.
Following the format of her equally sublime Wind Resistance, she blends songs, poetry and spoken word, all delivered in soothing, honeyed tones, to celebrate the wondrous natural beauty of the tree and to praise the generations of keepers who ensured its survival. With co-composer Pippa Murphy, Polwart was artist in residence at the Botanics, and in Windblown she draws on conversations with staff whose dedication to the plants is as personal as it is professional.
One observes that on the day his dog was due to be put down, he still gave it a treat in the morning. The palm commands similar dedication and respect until the very end. “For the time is nearly over,” goes Polwart’s repeated refrain, set to an appropriately timeless folk melody.
Accompanied by Dave Milligan on grand piano, she stands beneath a wild feathery arrangement of fronds designed by Neil Haynes and lit in ever-changing colours by Lizzie Powell, as Jamie Wardrop’s sparkling watery video projections suggest the epic journey from Bermuda (and its colonialist implications). Through it all, Polwart attributes to generations of Edinburgh citizens an enterprise of everyday love, care and attention.
• At Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, until 13 August
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