ISABEL COCKAYNE Salsa Celtica is a heady, if unusual, mix of Scottish and salsa music which just makes you want to get up and dance.

ISABEL COCKAYNE

Salsa Celtica is a heady, if unusual, mix of Scottish and salsa music which just makes you want to get up and dance.

The 10 band members' energy on stage was unstoppable and infectious, encouraging the audience into a weird mess of salsa dancing intermingled with the Highland Fling.

It was the second time Salsa Celtica has appeared at the Bury Festival, and yet again they were a hit with the Abbey Gardens crowd.

Leno Rocha on vocals brought the Latin spice to the rhythms from bongos, timbales and congas. There were fabulous solos from the piano and the big band sound of trumpets and saxophones.

The original Scottish flavour – consisting of bagpipes, fiddle, flute and the whistle, played by Fraser Fifield, Steve Kettley and Kenny Fraser – was a bit bizarre at first because it was so different, but it was brilliant, especially in the song Salsa Celtica. It's easy to see why their album, The Great Scottish Latin Adventure, is in the top 10 of the European and Canadian world music charts.

Abbey Gardens is a great open-air venue – people brought picnics and deckchairs to make an evening of it – and the staging and lighting was excellent. It was even better because the rain held off.

The whole experience was intoxicating both for the young and for the old in the audience.

It was a true taste of Cuba – via Iona.