Fringe by the Sea: Brian d’Souza

Fringe by the Sea, North Berwick, 2/8/26

‘Plants Can Dance (and Mushrooms Sing)’

‘Auntie Flo (a State of Flo)’

Brian d’Souza (and Friends)

This review covers the one-off gig at North Berwick by Auntie Flo, alias Brian d’Souza, along with a workshop curated by him which is taking place three times a day throughout the FBTS. It’s around “biosonification”: linking the electronic signals transmitted by all life-forms to equipment for conversion into sounds which some musicians use – not only as inspiration, but moulded into a form of music for our ears.

This extremely affordable all-ages workshop takes place in a little igloo-shaped glass dome furnished with terrarium, potted plants and plump cushions. After the introduction half of us gather along a table laid with mosses and the gear for making miniature terraria, jars of life, to hang around our necks. The rest are given an intriguing gadget: ‘Pocket Scion’. We clip the Scion’s cables onto live stuff – ourselves, the plants, the grass outside – to hear the vibrations translated for us into percussion, strings or wind. There’s lots of discussion with biosonification musician Lamine for those that wish it. Some guests simply commune!

Then the groups switched over. I liked how adults and children were on a more equal footing than usual, treated equally. However, both presenters speak very softly, so be prepared. Also, when you make your miniature terrarium, do choose the ordinary jar. The doughnut shape is needlessly fiddly.

Musician Brian d’Souza collaborates with plants. He also travels the world to collaborate with diverse musical cultures. He had a 2-hour gig in FBTS on Sunday 2nd as his “Aunty Flo” DJ persona – tall, gentle and grizzled in a long handkerchief-hem kilt discreetly playing his original rhythmic ambient music.

The gig was definitely laid back. Gentle rhythms flowed from the tent. Audience gradually trickled in, hung around, then mostly sat down on the floor. Some swayed, some sipped. Admirably few scrolled. Aunty Flo slipped in now and then to twiddle his console but said nothing. Had the band got lost? Was this deliberate, to force us to chill after a sweaty day? If so, it worked. Nobody – not child, adult nor senior citizen, seemed bothered. Gradually we gave up waiting for any direction and began moving, letting the hypnotic beat take over.

After thirty or forty minutes the band did appear, a special trio over from Ghana. The music became more authoritative, more directed, but still laid-back overall, with plenty jazz-style improvisation. Only charismatic singer Andrew Ashong seemed on edge and kept haranguing us for not dancing frenetically enough. “Bit of a Sunday afternoon vibe”. Well, it was Sunday afternoon, under thin canvas that let the sunlight filter in and the sound filter out. We were happy. The D’Souza muse, plant-based or not, is surely go with the Flo; don’t fight it.

But things finished on a high. Ashong cheered up and even complimented the FBTS crowd on one of Scotland’s strengths: being aged four to eighty-four and yet happy to share the same space. D’Souza too had honoured the locals by revealing he was deeply moved to be asked to perform here. Now living in London but brought up in Glasgow, as a child he had loved coming with his family on holiday to North Berwick. His father had died, just this year, and they had scattered his ashes by the Bass Rock.