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Scottish bhangra group Tigerstyle dropped by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Scotland studios to perform a special acoustic performance of devotional music from the Punjab for Mary Ann Kennedy's Global Gathering.

Maanas Ki Jaat

Gagan Damama Bajio

Named after a tune by New York art-disco band Liquid Liquid, Optimo (Espacio) was founded by Jonnie Wilkes and Keith McIvor (aka JD Twitch and JG Wilkes) at Glasgow's . It started as a bit of a laugh for their pals in late 1997 when Glasgow's club scene was getting pretty stale. They would play whatever took their fancy.

650 nights later, Sunday 25th April 2010 was Optimogeddon - the last ever. I was one of the lucky 550 who made it into the massive queue in just enough time to get in. People travelled from all over the UK, from Canada, New York, Belgium...Even the atmosphere in the queue was something special.

And what a night it was...at many times the crowd were making so much noise it was a struggle to hear the Sub Club's (very loud) sound system. A waterfall of sweat dripped from the ceiling, ruining my shoes. It was a fittingly explosive end to a Glasgow institution that joins the ranks of those few legendary inspirational clubs people talk about long after their demise.

But it was really much more than a club...and I'm not going to write a big spiel about it here, because other people have already done a great job elsewhere on the net.

There's a lovely set of testimonials on electronic music site . The official Optimo site carries a as selected by regulars. You could do a lot worse than try to obtain all of those records for your collection. ran a piece on it.

But to really give you a feel for the atmosphere last Sunday, take a look at this video snippet of the tune they played second from the end, after the official 'last tune' (which was Feeling Good by Nina Simone incidentally). The deafening demands for 'one more' were just too much to resist I guess :)

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It's not every day that you have your mind expanded at work.

Last week I was lucky enough to witness the only Scottish appearance of the latest project from Mr (yes, he of The Specials and 2-Tone fame).

The was the fittingly ostentatious location for a huge performance last Wednesday night from the Spatial AKA Orchestra, his 18-piece space-jazz happening. Radio producer Sushil Dade and his team of engineers were recording the gig for Radio Scotland's Jazz House programme.

With a small spaceship looming over a stage full of Egyptian statues and tribal masks, and a sound inspired in equal parts by Sun Ra's Arkestra, , 1960s reggae, and sci-fi B-movies, the band features some of the UK's best jazz musicians, decked out in a mad assortment of ancient Egyptian robes and head-dresses. It's fair to say they totally won over the crowd - not a simple task when much of the music is really quite out there.

I took some photos of the gig.

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Edinburgh band FOUND's autonomous music machine caused quite a stir at last year's Edinburgh Festival. With the ability to create music without any human interaction and with its moods being controlled by close monitoring of the World Wide Web, the even .

The band thought that Cybraphon should take a well earned rest after the BAFTA win but it has now been reawakened. A series of guest composers are working away at material for the machine to perform and from Friday 16th April, Glasgow's will be its temporary new home.

If you missed Cybraphon's Edinburgh debut last year, we highly recommend you head along to SWG3 for a look (entry is free). For a taster of what to expect - here's "Triste Tryst - a tango for Cybraphon by Bernd Rest" and you can head over to the the "How" section on for more info on the workings of the machine.

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As a Scot whose musical career began in Fife folk clubs some 46 years ago, it's perhaps no surprise that Barbara Dickson is a strong advocate for the songs of her homeland.

'Like the Irish, Scots know who they are and where they come from,' says Barbara. 'We speak strong dialects, we have a very strong culture, and I think it's really important to keep that alive.'

One way of ensuring the traditions are passed on is to make quality radio programmes, and indeed Barbara is very busy at the moment doing exactly that, with Radio Scotland's new Thursday night series, Scotland On Song.

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The famous Scottish tenor died aged 82 on Friday after a short illness.

Watch this archive clip of Kenneth performing Robert Burns' "The Bonnie Lass o' Ballochmyle" on "Two Views of Burns" from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ in 1979.