Neo-Trad, what is it?

Scottish traditional music has changed dramatically over the last decade.

The fiddle, pipes, whistles and accordion are still there, but increasingly they sit alongside electric guitar, bass, full drum kits, synthesisers and electronic production. The result is often described as neo-trad: contemporary music built around recognisably traditional Scottish sounds.

It is not a tightly defined genre. It is better thought of as a spectrum.

At one end, bands such as Mànran and Skerryvore combine traditional instruments with the scale and energy of modern rock. Skerryvore in particular have helped demonstrate how comfortably pipes and fiddle can sit alongside electric guitar, bass, keyboards and drums.

Tide Lines, formed in 2016, take the sound towards indie and folk-pop, with big choruses and modern songwriting carrying a strong Highland identity. Other acts have pushed in different directions. Talisk use a relatively stripped-back traditional setup but play with extraordinary speed, rhythm and intensity.

Elephant Sessions are one of the clearest examples of neo-trad crossing into contemporary rock and electronic territory. The Highland band combine fiddle and mandolin with electric guitar, bass, drums, synths and samples, creating a driving, festival-ready sound that has helped make them one of Scotland’s best-known modern trad acts.

Then there is the electronic end of the spectrum. Skye duo Valtos combine traditional Scottish musicianship with electronic beats and production, continuing a path previously explored by influential acts such as Niteworks. Here, pipes, fiddle and Gaelic influences can sit as comfortably over dance music as they do beside a guitar.

Traditional reels, jigs and pipe tunes are already built around rhythm and momentum. Add bass, drums and modern amplification and they become extremely effective live music. Audiences who might never deliberately seek out a traditional folk concert can encounter the same musical language through rock, pop or electronic music.

There is no fixed neo-trad instrument list, but common ingredients include pipes, fiddle, whistle, accordion, acoustic guitar and bodhrán, combined with contemporary instruments and production.

Even the name is flexible. Artists may describe themselves as contemporary trad, folk-rock, Celtic rock, folk-pop or simply Scottish traditional music.

What links them is the approach.

Neo-trad does not replace Scottish traditional music. It treats it as something alive: a musical language that can be rearranged, amplified and combined with whatever comes next.

The pipes are still pipes and the tunes are still Scottish.

They just might now arrive with a bass drop.