MagicFest!

The Edinburgh International Magic Festival is a not-for-profit organisation designed to produce an annual international performance event which will start in July 2010 and will be different to anything present in the UK and Europe today.

The fascinating world of mystery and illusion has always been attractive to a wide audience of all ages as it captures people's imagination and challenges them to believe the unbelievable. The MagicFest is designed to bring back to the stage the amazing magic live shows which are rarely available for general public these days and let the audience rediscover the seldom experienced states of awe and wonderment!

Edinburgh International Magic Festival aims to engage the widest possible audience in the fascinating world of magic, providing adults and children with regular access to a diverse range of high quality magic shows coming from all over the UK and abroad, that will entertain, enrich, challenge and inspire them.

This professionals usuall perform only in front of celebs and Royalty, and most have never performed publically in Scotland before and may never again. So do come and be amazed at the first ever Edinburgh International Magic Festival, from 7 to 11 July.

No stooges. No camera tricks. Just like that.

Gormley statues in the Water of Leith!!

6 Times is a multi-part work by Antony Gormley which positions six life-size figures between the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the sea at Edinburgh’s Leith Docks.

Gormley is an internationally acclaimed British artist renowned for testing the body in space often using his own body as a particular example of the human condition that he can work on ‘from the inside’. Gormley has worked extensively across the world, from Stavanger in Norway to the western Australian desert. In the UK he is best known for the impressive Angel of the North at Gateshead, and for the 100 figures he has installed across Crosby Beach, near Liverpool.

6 Times is the first work from the National Galleries of Scotland’s collection to be physically shared with the city. The positioning of the figures across Edinburgh places contemporary art near to communities who may have had little opportunity to experience such work directly.

The first is buried chest-deep in the ground. The next four have been lowered into the Water of Leith as it winds its way through the city to the sea, and the final statue is at the end of an abandoned pier.

The figures in the river are so realistic, that police have already had calls from worried passers-by!!

The artist said the high-pressure density of modern urban life made it "vital to take the time and space to open up our minds to the elements". According to him, "We are all aware that we are coming to the point where there will be 10 billion human beings on this planet. The big question that I'm asking with all of these works is, where does the human project fit, in the scheme of things?".

The work has been commissioned by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, with funds from the Gulbenkian Museum of the Year award 2004 and support from the Art Fund, The Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland, Claire Enders and The Henry Moore Foundation.

Taste Festival

Taste Festivals are back for 2010 in London, Edinburgh and Birmingham. You can once more sample specially prepared delicacies from some of the very best restaurants in your city of choice. There will also be sommeliers on hand to help you pick out the perfect bottle of bubbly or whatever tipple takes your fancy. The producers' market will be bursting with fine fayre, and there will be a whole host of classes, demonstrations, music and merriment.

So, Taste of Edinburgh is Scotland’s sell-out food and drink event of the year. Hosted in Edinburgh’s stunning Inverleith Park, the event brings together the leading names from the capital’s eateries alongside an array of celebrity chefs, to offer the finest range of food and drink from across the country.

But not everything is designed for adults. There are even special activities for the wee ones. We are calling on all yummy mummies and delicious daddies to come along to Tiny Taste on Friday 28 May between 12–4 pm for some bite sized fun for little ones.

For the first time we will be cooking up some fun filled activities for little ones with the launch of ‘Tiny Taste’ at this year’s festival, and to celebrate the first 300 tots to pay a visit will get a special goodie bag too.

Designed to keep the whole family happy, Tiny Taste combines a mix of interactive cooking demos, quizzes, storytelling and tasty treats, all centred around miniature play kitchens – just right for budding gastronomists!

Come and enjoy!

Rolling of the eggs

The pre-Christian Saxons had a spring goddess called Eostre, whose feast was held on the Vernal Equinox, around 21 March. Her animal was the spring hare and the rebirth of the land in spring was symbolised by the egg.

Pope Gregory the Great ordered his missionaries to use old religious sites and festivals and absorb them into Christian rituals where possible. The Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ was ideally suited to be merged with the Pagan feast of Eostre and many of the traditions were adopted into the Christian festivities. In Great Britain, Germany and other countries children traditionally rolled eggs down hillsides at Easter and it is thought that this may have become symbolic of the rolling away of the rock from Jesus Christ’s tomb before his resurrection.

In the UK, the tradition of rolling decorated eggs down grassy hills goes back hundreds of years and is known as "pace-egging", from the Old English Pasch meaning Passover. There is even an old Lancashire legend that says the broken eggshells should be carefully crushed afterwards or they will be stolen and used as boats by witches.

Arthur's Seat, in Edinburgh, is one of the traditional egg rolling sites, alongside the castle moat at Penrith and Bunkers Hill in Derby. Beacon Hill near Newbury, Berkshire is also an ideal spot. The eggs were traditionally wrapped in onion skins and boiled to give them a mottled gold appearance (although today they are usually painted) and the children competed to see who could roll their egg the furthest.

The eggs were eaten on Easter Sunday or given out to pace-eggers – fantastically dressed characters that processed through the streets singing traditional pace-egging songs and collecting money as a tribute before performing traditional mumming plays.

All is quiet now, but not for long...

That's it, the festivals are over, and the fireworks last night marked the end of a mad mad season, full of theatre, concerts, street entertainment, thousands of tourists... and work, a lot of work. Everybody seems to have gone home now, the city feels almost empty in comparison. However, this won't last long.

Apart from running our normal intensive courses, we are now getting ready for our Autumn evening terms.

We are starting our English evening term next week (14 Sept) and we are offering a 5% discount for early birds who join before 10th Sept. We are offering our general English couses as well as preparation courses for the Cambridge examinatios (FCE, CAE and CPE) and IELTS. All our English courses run 2 days a week, either Mon and Wed or Tue and Thu, usually from 18.30 to 20.00.

On top of that, our Foreign Language term starts on the week of 28 Sept! We offer a wide range of languages, both on a 1-2-1 and a group basis. We are also offering an early bird discount: enrol before 18th Sept and get 5% off! Don't waste this fantastic opportunity to start studying a new language or to improve your skills if you already speak one!!

If you are interested, you can contact us on 0131 220 5119 or at info@inlingua-edinburgh.co.uk

Edinburgh Mela Festival 2009

The Edinburgh Mela was founded in 1995 by members of the city's minority ethnic communities. The first festival was held in Meadowbank Stadium and quickly grew to attract 20,000 people each year. It was the first Mela in Scotland and has gained a strong reputation in the UK.

In 2000 the festival moved to Pilrig Park and in recent years has drawn large numbers of people over the weekend.

This year's Mela Festival takes place from the 7th - 9th August at Pilrig Park.

Welcome to the 15th Edinburgh Mela Festival. In this year of Homecoming we are celebrating Scotland's place in the world as a vibrant, culturally diverse nation. A land that has, over many years, welcomed generations of immigrant communities who have chosen to make Scotland their home. We're thinking of this as our year of Home-be-coming. We've decided to place a particular focus on artists who draw on a range of heritages to make innovative and contemporary work that reaches across artistic and cultural boundaries.

Come to our party, and share in the celebration - we think we have all the right ingredients!

You can find more information visiting http://www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk/

Edinburgh Jazz Festival

For ten days the sounds of the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival resonate through the city of Edinburgh - in parks, churches, clubs, bars and concert halls. The best international musicians rub shoulders with top Scottish talent - unique collaborations, world premieres, Scottish debuts, outstanding musicianship all contribute to the exciting Festival atmosphere.

Major concert halls host the best players in the world: Roy Hargrove, Joe Temperley, Chick Corea, David Murray, Wynton Marsalis have all performed. The Festival has a strong track record with mainstream jazz: Dick Hyman, Jeremy Monteiro, Scott Hamliton, Ken Peplowski, John Allred are all festival favourites.

Scottish jazz musicians celebrate the best of Scottish jazz during the Festival and feature in orchestras, leading their own bands, in international collaborations, often presenting new projects. The Blues is a key component and the Festival has presented some of the biggest names in the business from BB King and Buddy Guy to Scottish musicians like Maggie Bell and Tam White.

The UK's largest jazz event, Jazz on A Summer's Day sets its stall out in Princes Street Gardens under the shadow of Edinburgh Castle and showcases top Festival performers - all for Free. While the Mardi Gras brings the spirit of New Orleans to the Grassmarket.

The Jazz Festival runs from the 31st of July to the 9th of August. Don't you dare miss it! You can find more information at http://www.edinburghjazzfestival.co.uk/

Edinburgh Fringe Festival

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (commonly known as The Fringe) started in 1947 when 8 theatre groups turned up uninvited to the first Edinburgh International Festival (EIF). Over the years, more perfomers came to Edinburgh to perform on the outskirts of the EIF and by 1958 the Festival Fringe Society was formed to provide information, a central box office and a published programme of all the Fringe shows. Central to the society's constitution was the policy that there should be no artistic vetting from the society. Which still holds true to this very day.
The Fringe caters for the biggest names in showbiz to the performers in the street and covers all sorts of art forms such as theatre, comedy, children's shows, dance, physical theatre, musicals, operas, all genres of music, exhibitions, and events. In 2008, hundreds of groups participated in putting on 2,088 different shows with a total of 31,320 performances in 247 venues.

The Fringe is the largest of a number of festivals that come together in Scotland's capital every year, in and around August.

The Fringe is an open arts festival, which means that anyone can perform without any constraints from the Festival Fringe Society. The Festival Fringe Society (commonly known as the Fringe Office) does not produce any of the shows, does not invite anybody to perform, does not run any venues and pays no fees to performers. They do, however, help performers every step of the way.

So, here's one more reason to come to Edinburgh!! Come and join the thousands of visitors that visit the city willing to participate in one of the most important events of the world. It runs from the 7th to the 31st of August. Don't miss it!!

Edinburgh International Film Festival

The EIFF is back!! Moving from August to June last year proved to be a complete success. If you are a movie-buff you can avoid all the August rush with its multiple festivals and the thousands of tourists. The EIFF is one of the most famous film festivals in the world. Come and be the first to watch some of the most amazing new talents or have the privilege to see an old classic on the big screen. The Film Festival runs a series of interviews with important names in the film industry, come and see them in person! We can guarantee it's one of the most amazing experiences in the world. Just listen to your idols and ask them whichever question you always wanted to ask them! Some highlights this year include such classic figures as Roger Corman, famous for adapting some of Poe's stories, and some new geniuses as Darren Aronofsky, director of Pi, Requiem for a Dream or The Wrestler. You'll regret it if you miss them! The EIFF runs from the 17th to the 28th of June and is yet another excellent excuse to come to Edinburgh!

Inlnlingua - Language translation services in Edinburgh

Did you know that Inlingua Edinburgh offers professional translation services. We translate anything from Amharic to Welsh!

All of our translators are fully qualified and will be able to offer a full official translation of any document you need! Whether you need a birth certificate or a company brochure translated, Inlingua Edinburgh is happy to offer you its fast, efficient and competent translation service. Our translators have years of experience in their selected fields and subjects and are exclusively multi-lingual and native speakers.

We pride ourselves in a professional and efficient service.

Inlingua Edinburgh operates with two price structures:

1.minimum charge for less than 500 words
if your document has less than 500 words (word count in target language) then our minimum rate applies

2.pro rata charge per 1000 words
if your document comprises various pages of densely written text, then our pro rata rate applies (word count in target language)

Please contact our staff for a quote and more information on our rates. You can email us at info@inlingua-edinburgh.co.uk or call us +44(0)1312205119! We will be happy to answer any questions you might have!