Music Like a Vitamin is the thought provoking name of the opening concert of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. It’s a unique festival, too comprising three weeks of art, music, and literary events with the aim of promoting positive mental health, positive views toward those dealing with mental health issues, and exploring the relationship between the brain and creativity.

The opening concert takes place at the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow. It will feature the music of Emma Pollock, Karine Polwart, Alasdair Roberts, James Yorkston, and Adrian Crowley. They've also been inviting visitors to the festival's web site to send in ideas for songs that promote hope. It should be an interesting evening -- the Fruitmarket is a great venue, which really used to be a fruitmarket. Refurbishment has retained the old iron columns and other details from the Victorian era; the spacious venue is a regular site for gigs by the likes of Blazin’ Fiddles, Crooked Still, and Salsa Celtica.

All the musicians slated for this concert are well respected for their innovative work, too. Polwart, for example, has written songs -- hopeful and otherwise -- dealing with depression, loss of a loved one, and AIDS.

If you’re in Glasgow on 1 October, it’s definitely worth checking out the concert. Tickets are five pounds. There’s still time, too, to offer a song suggestion at the website, see a few of the songs already suggested, and to find out about the many other festival events taking place in venues across Scotland.

To learn more about all this, visit the festival’s web site at http://www.mhfestival.com

Kerry Dexter is the Music Editor for Wandering Educators.
Kerry's credits include VH1, CMT, the folk music magazine Dirty Linen, Strings, and The Encyclopedia of Ireland and the Americas. She also writes about the arts and creative practice at http://www.musicroad.blogspot.com Music Road. You may reach her at music at wanderingeducators dot com.