Music in Scotland, Scottish Music, Culture, Artists

Music and Musicians in Scotland

Though a wide variety of musical styles have been used and enjoyed by Scottish Musicians and music lovers for centuries, it is the often haunting and eerie sounds of Traditional Scottish Music that have become internationally recognized as the 'sound of Scotland'. The bagpipes are largely thought of as being a Scottish phenomenon – even though in truth they were widely used across Europe, North Africa and South Asia at one time. Today people will travel from across the globe to enjoy live performances of Scottish traditional and contemporary music at the various festivals and shows held across the country.

While traditional Scottish music and traditional Irish music served to influence each other, they are both very different from each other. The melodies enjoyed through this medium may be haunting or surprisingly merry and a number of musical compositions are accompanied by Gaelic lyrics. In more recent years, a number of modern artists have seen fit to combine the alluring elements of traditional music with the new and exciting musical concepts of more modern music styles. In doing so, they have managed to revitalize traditional Scottish music and make it appeal to a much wider and younger audience than before. Today albums filled with this kind of music can be bought in music stores across the globe.

However not all Scottish music is of the traditional sort. Over the years a number of Scottish musicians, singers and bands have become famous for more mainstream musical styles. Opera, rock, pop and Jazz are just some examples of the various music genres that some Scottish musicians have made their own. Over the years, names such as AC/DC, Craig Armstrong, Annie Lennox, The Proclaimers, Travis, Texas, Wet Wet Wet and The Alan Parsons Project have originated in Scotland and gone on to achieve international popularity. This trend of global fame continues today as Scottish musicians continue to create unique and enjoyable music that can be appreciated by anyone that follows a particular music style. Why not take the time to discover some of Scotland’s great music the next time you travel to this interesting and diverse country? You may just discover that you are more familiar with the work of local musicians than you thought!