THERE SEEMS to be a kind of karmic rewards scheme at work with Scottish folk festivals: the longer you have to travel, the more fun you have when you get there. It's a rule that certainly applies to Orkney's annual jamboree, which kicks off for its 26th year this Thursday.

Another surefire way to discover the best festivals is to ask the musicians who play them. Musicians love coming to Orkney, whether it's for the islands themselves, with their remote, Norse-influenced otherness, stark sea-girt beauty and wealth of archaeological treasures, the wholehearted welcome they receive from a music-loving population largely starved of visits from touring bands, or the thriving local music scene that this year contributes 20 home-grown acts to the festival programme. And then there are the almost non-stop sessions that resound through the pubs of Stromness, Orkney's second port.

"No other festival I've been to can compare with the atmosphere in Stromness that weekend," says Bob Gibbon, who took over this year as chairman of the organising committee. "A lot of festivals take place in community centres, village halls, fields or whatever, but Orkney Festival is just in the air."

"It's like a party that just goes on for four days," says Kris Drever, the Orkney-born singer and guitarist who is now one of the UK folk scene's fastest-rising stars, as both a solo artist and a member of Lau, and who features among this year's festival headliners.

"It was also an absolute staple of my musical development when I was growing up there, in terms of bringing in different musicians and influences that I wouldn't have got to hear otherwise - and certainly wouldn't have got to play with in a session."

This stylistic cross-pollination is a strong feature of Orkney's music today. Underlying the scene is a solid foundation of traditional music tuition, both in schools and through independent ventures such as the Wrigley Sisters' Centre of Music, established by native-born duo Jennifer and Hazel in 2004 after years of international touring, and now seeking to expand.

Combined with the more exotic strains imported by the folk festival, there's also the simple necessity, in a far-flung place, of making your own entertainment. "People up here will turn their hand to just about anything," says Hazel Wrigley. "The ones who play blues almost all play folk as well, and some of them dabble in jazz - and then they'll be playing Shania Twain covers every other Saturday."

Besides Drever's homecoming appearance, an exceptionally strong line-up for Orkney 2008 includes the superb Irish-American band Solas, multi-award-winning English singer-guitarist Martin Simpson, turbocharged Balkan/jazz dance music from Moishe's Bagel and the Highland ceilidh king himself, accordionist Fergie MacDonald. There's also a first-ever folk festival appearance by the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra, through which Gibbon hopes to embrace a whole new audience sub-sector.

"The more people we can invite to the party the better," he says. "Broadening our horizons, while maintaining the balance and integrity of the event, has been my main aim. With our audiences being about 50:50 locals and visitors, I also like to think of the festival as a two-way shop window. We're bringing in artists for us to see what they can do, and we're also bringing in audiences to show them our local talent."

Orkney Folk Festival takes place at various venues on Orkney, Thursday to Sunday. www.orkneyfolkfestival.com