Young Celtic music artists have been leading from the front in the touchy subject of fusion and electronica. The Easy Club pioneered Celtic swing years ago, their example propagated by drummer/composer and Scottish National Jazz Orchestra member John Rae and his band Celtic Feet, while Salsa Celtica have made a considerable mark lacing their Celtic background with a genuinely deep love and understanding of Latin music. At the other end of the spectrum Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley and Catriona MacDonald have done some stirring conceptual work, even incorporating an almost classical mentality to the complex instrumental pieces they have created. MacDonald's increasing influence is also underlined by her leading role in the band of massed fiddle players, Blazing Fiddles, which took the UK by storm in 1999. The likes of Deaf Shepherd, Mad Pudding and Tartan Amoebas have also provided an explosive new edge to old notions of Celtic folk rock, while Cape Breton's Natalie McMaster has produced a succession of brilliant fiddle albums involving daring variants on a Scottish traditional theme.

Perhaps most intriguing – and controversial – are those bending the music to its limits by taking it into the realms of a modern club and dance scene involving an alien world of samples, sequencers, loops, computers and drum machines. Even Capercaillie – and one of their offshoots Big Sky – experimented in this area with mixed results, while the likes of Simon Thoumire and Paul Mounsey have been at the forefront of these technological forays. Multi-talented Mounsey lived in Brazil for a decade and has made it count with a series of alluring electronic experiments. The idea of marrying the common ingredients of Scottish and Latino music has also been explored to good effect by Mac Umba, one of several Scots bands who’ve made their mark abroad.

Shooglenifty, who captured the imagination of a new audience with a style they wryly described as 'acid croft', and who played at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, are among those who’ve embraced technology with the most conviction. While most have treated it with kid gloves, Shooglenifty have gone in with the brashness of youth to utilize all the sounds and equipment around them to enhance the music without any caution or the sense of guilt of older musicians. Peatbog Faeries, too – featuring excellent piper Peter Morrison and fiddle player/throat singer Ben Ivitsky – have pushed back the boundaries in stirring futuristic fashion without compromising the tradition in any way. Yet the man who’s been most responsible for shifting the goalposts is Martyn Bennett, a fiddle and bagpipe player of no mean accomplishment who has driven the music, inspiringly, right to the edge with his albums Bothy Culture and Hardland. He made his mark as a dreadlocked busker in Edinburgh but proved his credentials with an extraordinary adaptation of Sorley McLean's equally extraordinary poem Hallaig, featuring McLean's own reading of it recorded shortly before his death. If any evidence were needed that the old and the new and apparently alien cultures can clash to resounding effect, this is it.