PETER CANN talks to Toby Shippey of the fusion band Salsa Celtica, who are headlining at the fourth Oxford Folk Festival

The event is already dubbed the launch pad of the festival season and the Oxford Folk Festival kicks off next Friday with the very best of live music. The festival has had some stirring bands in previous years, notably, of course, Bellowhead, but headlining this year is a group of musicians to rival any live act - Salsa Celtica.

They were nominated for the Best Live Band award in 2007's Folk Awards and in the Scots Trad Music Awards last year, while the Evening Standard said: "Live, they are a storm."

As their name suggests, their music is a fusion of two very different sytles - Latin and Celtic traditional. The story began in the bars and clubs of Edinburgh and Glasgow in the mid-1990s, where the trumpet player Toby Shippey and fellow followers of both traditional music and jazz mixed with Latin musicians and a new sound emerged.

They were an immediate hit with the locals and the newly arrived Hispanic community which gave them the impetus to go on the road. After recording their debut album, Monstruos y Demonios (Monsters and Demons), they headed for Cuba to immerse themselves in the salsa sounds of Havana and Santiago de Cuba. The experience inspired two further albums, this time on the Greentrax label - The Great Scottish Latin Adventure and El Agua De La Vida - both making the World Music Charts, and tours of North America, Europe and Asia soon followed.

Toby said they did not set out with a particular sound in mind.

"It started without a plan but there was a move towards an integration of traditional music with other kinds, a fusion. There were similar things happening in Edinburgh and at festivals with the likes of Shooglenifty and the Peatbog Faeries."

The sound, produced by up to 11 musicians, has been described as simply a fusion of Cuban salsa and Scottish music, mixing the bagpipes and fiddle with congas and timbales, though Toby prefers not to pigeonhole it.

"I could have a long conversation about the world of salsa, about what it is but, yes, our music is a lot influenced by Cuban music."

Certainly Latin audiences love the sound and the band has packed the dance floors of salsa clubs playing alongside top Cuban and South American stars.

"We've played to mixed audiences in Latin America and they loved it - the sound of the bagpipes. They can hear the passion that's in their music. Latin New Yorkers and Puerto Ricans loved it too. In this country the sound jumps out at people. Folk fans are used to the sound, say, of the Oysterband, but this is different."

Their latest album, El Camino (Discos León), has musicians from countries as diverse as Venezuela, Cuba and Ireland as well as Scotland. A guest singer is Eliza Carthy, who is also appearing at the Oxford Folk Festival with her band the Ratcatchers.

"Eliza, who also lives in Edinburgh, used to sit in on gigs and add vocals to salsa tunes but when we decided to record something with her we wanted to do something she does. When we played the Grey Cockerel at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival you could have heard a pin drop."

The inclusion of such a song underlines the strength of the folk undercurrent to what the band does. "What seems like more salsa than traditional tunes is sometimes seen as a criticism but there's a lot of traditional stuff on the El Camino," added Toby.

The festival date comes at the virtual end of a busy tour and he is looking forward to the date.

"It'll be lovely to play the festival. We played at the Zodiac recently and it was great - the place was totally packed."

If you want to catch Salsa Celtica, they play the Town Hall on Saturday, March 31, at 8pm. They are supported by Fernhill, see panel, and singer/songwriter James Chadwick. But hurry before the concert is sold out. Tickets cost £15/£13 , available from Tickets Oxford on 01865 305305. For more information call up the festival website www.oxfordfolkfestival.com