Parcel of Rogues!

A REMARKABLE set of parallels between the 18th century Scotland of Robert Burns and current state of the nation will be drawn by a BBC Radio Scotland special to be aired on Friday 4 May (11am) ? the day after the Scottish parliamentary & local government elections.

The programme charts Glaswegian alt.blues artist Dave Arcari?s travels round Scotland as he puts music to Burns? Parcel of Roguespoem and searches for the poet?s influences and history behind the piece.

The story starts when Arcari visits Dumfries for a gig and is inspired by the Parcel of Rogues poem recited by locals in the town?s Globe Inn ? one of Burns? favourite drinking dens and home for part of his life. After a crazy notion that Burns? words would work in a more modern blues-based song, Arcari sets about writing a tune that would sit comfortably in his National guitar-driven bottleneck blues performance.

But to really get the vibe, he needs to understand more about the song, the poets and, of course, the 300-year-old Act of Union between Scotland and England that the Burns? piece is centred around.

The resulting music is just part of the programme, though. For as Arcari travels round Scotland talking to local historians, MSPs and other experts including legendary Scottish musician Tam White, the resulting set of opinions and ideas provide an intriguing thread through the programme.

So, who were ?the rogues?? What do some of Scotland?s main political players think Burns would have made of devolution? Did Robert Burns have the blues? And what has Dave Arcari come up with? To find out, tune into BBC Radio Scotland at 11.30am on Friday 4 May.

If you're outside Scotland and want to listen, you can hear the programme online live from the BBC website - you can also listen again for a week after it goes out...see http://www.bbc.co.uk/...

The resulting track will be released (download only) by Buzz Records on Monday 7 May 2007 available through iTunes, eMusic and many other download stores. See http://www.davearcari... for full info.