More than eighty music and dance scholars from all over the world are heading to the University of Aberdeen for a prestigious event.
The University is staging the annual conference of the British Forum of Ethnomusicology - a society devoted to the study of music and dance from all parts of the world.
Past Forum conferences and publications have included the studies of traditions as diverse as Manchurian shamanic drumming, Brazilian death metal, Ugandan church music, and Scots pipe music.
This year's conference promises to be just as inspiring and is based around two themes - one is the study of music close to "home", and the other is music created by people in transformed states of mind. This could come from a range of factors, which could be alcohol, tobacco, narcotics or emotions.
The conference is being hosted by the Elphinstone Institute and the Music Research Group at the University and takes place from Thursday, April 15 to Sunday, April 18.
Dr Ian Russell, Director of the Elphinstone Institute, said: "It's good for Aberdeen to have all these people coming here from far and near, bringing their insights into the worlds of music. It's a great privilege for the University to host this event."
On the day the conference opens the Elphinstone Institute is launching a new book entitled Folk Song: Tradition, Revival, and Re-Creation, which has been edited by Dr Russell and David Atkinson. Dr Russell said: "The book is a major contribution to UK and international folk song studies at the start of the 21st century. It brings together 36 selected essays, which explore the revival movements, key men and women who made them happen, and some significant singers and songs."
The subjects covered range from ballad studies to folk rock, from engravings of Hogarth to the Manchester Runway protest. Cultural politics, national identity and singing style are among the issues explored.
There are also features on several of the prime movers which include Sabine Baring-Gould, Frank Kidson, Lucy Broadwood, Annie Gilchrist, Gavin Greig, Maud Karpeles, Ruth Herbert Lewis, Annabel Morris Buchanan, Ewan MacColl, Moses Asch, Louise Manny and Peter Kennedy.
Dr Russell added: "This is a fascinating and timely collection of studies that represents the exciting diversity of current research, and deserves to be widely read by scholars and folk revival participants alike."