Bands, singers, musicians and artists performing at this year's Celtic Connections festival are to be asked to vote in an informal poll on Scottish independence.
The festival, beginning this week with a sold-out opening concert featuring Nicola Benedetti, Julie Fowlis, Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham, is tacking the political debate of the year with a debate on the effect of possible independence on Scotland's culture in its first weekend.
Donald Shaw, the artistic director of the festival, as well as founder of Capercailie, said that the independence debate was not something the festival, which runs over 18 nights from January 16, will "shy away from".
A "big book" will record the views on Scottish independence - Yes, No, undecided or otherwise - from up to 2100 performers and its conclusions will be revealed before the end of the festival.
On Saturday at the CCA venue in Glasgow, the festival will stage "If the Song Changes' - a Talk on the Impact of Independence for Scotland on its Culture" from 1pm, which will include Lesley Riddoch, the Icelandic singer-songwriter Benni Hemm Hemm, the Québécois musician Yves Lambert and "some weel-kent faces from the music scene".
The festival will include concerts at the new SSE Hydro venue in Glasgow, and performances by Del Amitri, Imelda May, Dick Gaughan, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Capercaillie, Bobby Womack, Bill Callahan and Julie Fowlis and Mogwai among many others.
One strand of the festival, which will have 300 shows, focuses on Robert Burns and the influence the poet and songwriter had in Commonwealth countries.
Mr Shaw, who said he is in favour of Scottish independence, said: "I really think there is an appetite for discussion and there has always been a tradition in Glasgow of people speaking out, particularly politically in folk music, there is that tradition of the city expressing itself in that way. I don't think we should, as a festival, shy away from debating it and in fact that's a good thing."
Mr Shaw said that there needs to be a debate within folk and traditional music about the referendum and that not necessarily every band and performer in the festival would lean to the 'Yes' side of the debate.
"There is a strong tradition of being on the Left, and that being represented in Labour, and that is complicating the debate for many," he said.
"I think many are in favour of an independent Scotland but they feel guilty of speaking about it because they come from a background of Labour and they are not the party of independence. I think it will be through the music that they can express what they feel."
Mr Shaw said that the festival was hitting its targets on ticket sales, and that the opening concert had sold out and other gigs were selling well.
The Bobby Womack and Mogwai shows are selling well, as is the Del Amitri show.
Mr Shaw said there had been healthy sales for the Far Far From Ypres - WWI Scottish Songs concert on January 17. This event will feature Scottish songs, stories and poetry from the conflict.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article