Scottish music's influence on the Commonwealth will be celebrated at the 21st Celtic Connections festival next year.

The annual celebration of traditional music will have an international theme with artists from countries such as India, South Africa and Australia.

With the Commonwealth Games being held in Glasgow next summer, the festival organisers have commissioned collaborative projects to explore how Scottish music contributes to the culture of other countries.

One strand of the festival, which will see 300 shows in Glasgow over 18 nights from January 16, focuses on Robert Burns and the influence the poet and songwriter had in Commonwealth countries.

Artistic director Donald Shaw said: "Next year's line-up will be the biggest celebration yet of the tunes and songs that connect Scotland's musical legacy to the rest of the world. We've got artists in from over 30 countries and have 300 shows.

"I think the main themes would be the Commonwealth and Homecoming Scotland, so artists from as far a field as Africa, India and Australia are coming in.

"With the Commonwealth, we've tried to create new collaborative projects with artists from those nations, trying to show the influence Scottish traditional music has had on the Commonwealth nations.

"Robert Burns is one of the Scots that international artists like to engage with. He is someone that would be recognised as someone that really rescued a lot of the great traditional tunes of the day that became popular songs now and they really resonate with people across the world, so you find that performers are always keen to engage with great writers like that."

The independence referendum is also likely to feature in the festival but no particular programmes have been set aside for performances.

Mr Shaw said: "Certainly with the referendum, it's not like we need to change much. It's almost like the politics of the music are already there for the artists so there's no need for us to programme anything specially. It's already there and is up to the artists themselves if they want to make it part of their performance."

Del Amitri, Bobby Womack, Julie Fowlis and violinist Nicola Benedetti are among those performing at next year's festival, uniting folk, roots, traditional, indie, blues and jazz music.

Shows are being staged across Glasgow, including the recently opened Hydro venue which seats 13,000 people.

Archie Graham, chair of Glasgow Life, the commercial cultural arm of Glasgow City Council, said: "It's a really important part of cultural life in Glasgow and Scotland now and I think we'll see that more with the way it marks the significant events of the next year.

"The heritage of Scottish music is rich in any case, but it will be shown particularly next year when we are going to be able to celebrate the influence it has had on the Commonwealth and various cultures around the world."