Bothy Culture by Martyn Bennett

Bothy Culture is the second studio album by the Scottish Celtic fusion artist Martyn Bennett, released in January 1998 on the Rykodisc label. After winning critical acclaim for his debut album Martyn Bennet (1996), Bothy Culture builds upon that album's mixing of Scottish Celtic music with farther, international folk music styles and contemporary electronic music. The album celebrates and draws upon the music of Bennett's native Gaeldom as well as the music of Islam and Scandinavia, with Bennett finding and emotionally connecting to the similarities between the geographically dispersed styles. It mixes the styles with contemporary electronic music such as breakbeat and drum and bass. Named for the traditional party culture of Highland bothies, which Bennett related to modern club music subcultures, Bothy Culture was released to critical acclaim, with critics praising the effectiveness of the album's unique blend of disparate styles. Bennett formed the band Cuillin, consisting of himself, his wife and two other musicians, to tour in promotion of the album. Several critics have gone on to regard Bothy Culture as a groundbreaking and pioneering album that established Bennett as a prominent musician within the evolution of Scottish music, and Bennett went on to win the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award for Music. In 2018, 13 years after Bennett's death, his friend, composer Greg Lawson, hosted the much publicised show Bothy Culture and Beyond at the SSE Hydro, Glasgow, with his GRIT Orchestra, to celebrate the album's 20th anniversary.