Event preview: Hebridean Celtic Festival 2011

While this expansion is intended to continue in future years, it's been launched as part of the 2011 Scotland's Islands promotion.

Given the festival's wider impact across the Western Isles since its inception, however, the added emphasis on the contemporary alongside the traditional, in the shape of acts like Rachel Sermanni, Woodenbox With a Fistful of Fivers, Ahab and Kitty the Lion, is wholly appropriate.

That impact can be measured simply in terms of numbers. The inaugural festival, in 1996, pulled in an audience of 1,200; last year this reached 17,000, making it easily the busiest week in the islands' entire calendar.

With just over half coming from within the Western Isles, another quarter from elsewhere in Scotland, and the rest from further afield, an economic impact study carried out in 2004 assessed the resulting bottom-line boost at 1.5 million; another such exercise this year will surely see that figure rising considerably.

"It's absolutely the week on the islands," says Iain Fordham, director of the Tourism Hebrides development project, and proprietor of the Broad Bay guest house outside Stornoway.

"As well as the festival itself, a lot of other events are now scheduled to coincide with it – like the local Highland Games, and the Sail Hebrides maritime festival, plus this year we've got some of the Tall Ships fleet coming in – to take advantage of all the visitors who are here."

And as Fordham's own story attests, the ripple effect from festival visits spreads far beyond mid-July. "We first came up in 2001, and took in the festival at the end of an island-hopping holiday, because we wanted to see the Afro Celt Sound System," he says.

"We just totally fell in love with the place, and ended up moving here from north Wales."

While this may be a somewhat extreme example, there's plenty of evidence that the Heb Celt, as it's known, generates numerous repeat visits at other times of year.

"It pulls in a lot of people who wouldn't otherwise have thought of coming to the islands, but who want to see a particular band," Fordham says. "Then once they get a taste of the place, they end up back here time and time again."

As this suggests, the festival's primary lure is the clout and calibre of its programming, right from that first year when Irish music legend Davy Spillane topped the bill, with other subsequent headliners including Van Morrison, Runrig, Capercaillie, The Waterboys, The Proclaimers and Imelda May.

The Heb Celt's other key line-up ingredient has always been local Gaelic talent, from such revered traditionalists as the late lamented Ishbel MacAskill to contemporary stars like Julie Fowlis.

This year's opening concert, at Stornoway's An Lanntair arts centre, features three top young Gaelic singers – Darren Maclean, Jenna Cumming and Linda Macleod – performing a new suite of music on the Scotland's Islands theme, while new Highland/Gaelic band Mnran will be making their debut in the 5,000-capacity main marquee.

"It's a central part of the festival's identity," says Heb Celt director Caroline MacLennan, "the fact that we're showcasing what our own culture has to offer, right alongside the best international acts."

"I remember that making a big impression on me when I was younger," says Lewis-born singer Calum Alex MacMillan, who'll be performing this year with the band Dimh. "Just the fact that Gaelic music was up there on the big stage, on a par with all these big Celtic names.

I think it's really helped give it more mainstream credibility, especially for younger folk." The 2011 programme also reflects the generally vibrant health of the islands' music scene, with non-Gaelic, home-grown performers including The Boy Who Trapped the Sun and Open Day Rotation, the new project from ex-Astrid frontman Willie Campbell.

Additionally, the Heb Celt's outdoor site offers one of the most picture-perfect festival locations you'll find anywhere – surrounded by trees, overlooking Stornoway's old harbour, against the imposing baronial backdrop of Lews Castle – along with a wealth of daytime attractions from deserted white-sand beaches to the world-famous Callanish standing stones.

Small wonder that nowadays an annual plea goes out for anyone in the town and its environs who can provide extra bed spaces for the arriving hordes – even if the level of revelry over the festival's four days tends to place sleep decidedly low on the priority list.

The Hebridean Celtic Festival 2011 is at various venues on the Isle of Lewis from Wednesday to Saturday www.hebceltfest.com

This article was first published in Scotland On Sunday, 10 July, 2011