Singer/actress Fiona Kennedy, a member of Scotland’s leading theatrical family and well-known in North America as the host of “Tartan TV,” leads a group of singers brought together from a country-wide audition to represent a range of musical styles. They perform at the historic Theatre Royal in Glasgow backed by the Scottish Festival Orchestra.
Emmy Award-winning Scottish actor Brian Cox (The Bourne Supremacy) reads the works of Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns, with footage of Scotland interspersed between songs.
The concert spans genres and generations from traditional Scottish compositions like “Loch Lomond” and “Down in the Glen” to pop hits originally sung by Carly Simon, Bette Midler, and Simon and Garfunkel that infuse Scottish cultural significance to the familiar lyrics.
The show’s most specifically Scottish performance is also the concert’s most YouTube-ready highlight. Darren Maclean’s puirt à beul or ‘mouth music’ – a traditional and very difficult Scottish form of lilting performed in Scottish Gaelic, whose closest American equivalent would be scat singing or fast rap.
