Interview: Aindrias de Staic

Aindrias de Staic

When in Edinburgh pick up a bargain at Le Chariot Express, says Aindrias de Staic

Why do you like Le Chariot Express second-hand shop?

Coming here is always the highlight of my trips to Edinburgh. I love junk shops and this place is like an Aladdin’s cave. Also, over the years I’ve developed a sort of relationship with Moe, the Moroccan guy who runs it. When I first came to Edinburgh from Ireland I was only 17 or 18 – I remember I was working at a pub in the Grassmarket called the Fiddler’s Arms that’s gone now. Moe and I weren’t friends at the time but I think I got a melodeon off him that year. Another time I got cowboy boots off him and I still have them – I’m six foot but they make me look six-two, you know?

What else have you bought?

One year I bought a bicycle off him. At the end of the festival I brought it back and tried to sell it back to him. He was like “Oh, it’s September, nobody wants a bicycle in September.” I kept on driving the bargain and eventually I started talking about Morocco. I said I was hoping to go there one day, so in the end he said “OK, I’ll tell you what I’ll do – I’ll give you ten pounds for the bike AND…” and then he wrote out this little note that allowed me to stay with some friends of his in a hotel in Morocco. It was all written in old French, you know, “Here is a friend of mine … be nice to him.” I was delighted and I had every intention of using it but then I only went and lost it.

Moe makes a great cup of tea too, doesn’t he?

Yeah, it’s lovely – it’s Moroccan mint tea with sage in it. Sage is very good for your voice when you’re performing.

You use junk instruments in your show sometimes – do you get them from Moe’s shop?

Yeah, I got a fantastic trombone from him a few years ago. The year before last I got a big bicycle off him and I cycled around everywhere and halfway through the run I got a puncture. So eventually I swapped it with Moe for another bike – a red fold-up one – and I managed to incorporate that into the show. It had a dynamo and I used it for a scene in which I start playing the fiddle and the light literally comes on for me.

Why do you like junk so much?

When I was a kid my grandparents in County Clare had a pub and upstairs they had an attic with old gramophones, old musical instruments, things like that. We used to love going up there as kids, but you had to be really careful not to break anything. Moe’s is a bit like that. When I first came to Edinburgh in the 1990s I was amazed by the junk shops. In Ireland we don’t really have junk shops. Moe’s is the last real junk shop left in town, I think. A Moroccan bazaar in the middle of Edinburgh.

Are there still good bargains to be had?

Oh yeah, loads. The thing is, Moe might have a great fiddle in the shop. Now, what if he has a fiddle there for three or four years? If you make him a good offer he’s going to say, “yeah, sure”. You could get it for a hundred bucks. It could be worth a lot more, but it’s just that nobody else has seen it. Or take this balalaika. It’s a beautiful instrument and Moe only wants £60 for it. In fact, now I’m thinking I should probably buy it quick before the article’s published.

• Aindrias de Staic’s The Summer I Did the Leaving is at the Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2pm, until 28 August. To watch a trailer for a forthcoming documentary about his career, visit www.scotsman.com/festivalblog. Le Chariot Express is at 47A South Clerk Street.