Arts and music

       The tight relation between the Scottish and British art create a rich artistic and cultural legacy. Due the influence of different cultures now at days Scotland is a unique country with sculptures, paintings, and old traditions.

    Its beginning is around 16^th century but in that time was not any kind of artistic expression.

     Due the creation of the Glasgow School in the 19^th century appeared a group of painters called Glasgow Boys who were famous due theirs realism and naturalism paintings about ordinary life in an honest and unaffected way. The members of the group were: Sir James Guthrie, George Henry, E A Hornel, Sir John Lavery, E A Walton, and Joseph Crawhall.

     Early 20th century appears the Glasgow Girls, a group of female artists and designers. Their style was based around Art Noveau. Its members were: sisters Margaret and Frances MacDonald and their husbands, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Herbert MacNair. 

     These groups contributed in the creation of ‘Glasgow Style’. The hallmark of this style was rectilinear lines, reaching up as if appealing to the heavens, and offset within this lattice are subtly elegant curves and natural designs such as the Mackintosh rose. Curves and colors are sparse against the geometric backdrop and so seem accentuated. The lines hold back the flamboyance of the curves, creating a delightful visual tension.

     Scotland has many art museums and galleries such as Scottish National Gallery, Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Paisley Gallery, and the Hunterian Gallery.

     The most famous painters of Scottish art are Henry Raebun, Jack Vettriano, the Glasgow Boys, J S Peploe, J D Fergusson, the Glasgow Girls, etc.

     Scotland has a rich tradition of music, song, and dance. Scotland has three national instruments: bagpipe, fiddle, and harp. Spontaneously when we talk about music in this country we associate it with the traditional Scottish music but it is not the only one. So we can find three types of Scottish music.

     The first one is the oldest form of music of Scotland called traditional Scottish music. The traditional music has remaining approximately 20 years. This kind of music is known due the bagpipes which have different forms. The bagpipe is a wind instrument which appears in 1400. People who use the bagpipe wear a black jacket, white shirt, tie, and a kilt.

     The second one is the classical music. Scotland has many companies such as: Scottish Opera, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Scotland offers a big amount of concert of this kind of music. Some composers are James MacMillan, Sally Beamish, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. This music uses some instruments such as accordion, violin, whistles, flutes, etc.

     The third one is the contemporary music. It is the mixture between different kind of music and instruments. Some groups have songs in Welsh language such as Ceredwen which mix traditional instruments with ‘trip hop’.

     During this year is celebrated ‘Year of Creative Scotland’ which Scotland shows the best of its country such as music, theatre, dance, art, literature, films, etc.