PHIL Cunningham is set once again to take on a task which requires both a massive personality and musical weight.

He's about to sell the bagpipes to the masses.

The musician, writer and producer will present new two-part BBC2 documentary Phil Cunningham's Pipe Dream in which he shares his love of the instrument and explore its unique history.

And if anyone can convince this primitive sound is worth hearing, it's Phil. After all, he has already managed the near impossible; The Scottish music star has made the accordion sexy.

"It certainly wasn't seen as a sexy instrument when I began playing professionally," he says of the seventies, when he played in folk clubs and on the touring circuit alongside his brother Johnny in their band, Silly Wizard.

Phil admits his chosen instrument was something of a harmonic chastity belt, a passion killer.

"Yes, but aged sixteen, I just wasn't interested in girls at all at the time," he says, smiling.

"I was excited by the idea of creating a new, exciting accordion style that was to take away from the popular perception, of being loud, slow and sluggish.

"Meanwhile, my brother had given me albums by Planxty and the JSD band and I was totally absorbed in what traditional music was now able to do."

The teenage Phil - who'd go on to form a hugely successful partnership with Aly Bain - didn't see music as a lifelong career at this stage, but when he began touring he never looked back.

En route, he learned the mandolin, the sitar, the penny whistle, the mandola . . .

"Since I was a wee boy, anything I saw I wouldn't be beaten by it," he says, underlining his raw determination.

But there are other reasons for his staying power in the music business. There's a natural talent; Phil was given his first accordion as a four year-old and was playing Oh, Susannah in less than a day.

And there an underlying need to prove himself, to learn continually.

The performer learned how to write music, to produce, to engineer. He began to write radio commercials, he wrote for films, then came his solo tours in the eighties.

In 1990, Phil Cunningham was offered the job of Musical Director on Billy Bryden's theatre epic, The Ship. It turned his life around.

"I didn't think I could handle it so I tried to price myself out of the job," he says, grinning, and shaking his head.

"I asked for a ridiculous amount of money and they said 'Fine.' But Bill Bryden and Bill Dudley were inspirational. That experience moved my career forward by ten years."

The musician's work was ever broadening and he loved it. Then came the offer to front the Hogmanay Show.

"It was the poison chalice," he recalls. "The press loved to hate it but that was a red rag to a bull for me."

Phil laughed in the face of adversity, took the show away from the dance band, straw bails and gingham backdrop and lured the likes of David Essex (singing Ae Fond Kiss in a cockney accent) Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor.

The man who was once mocked by his violin teacher ( he claimed Phil would end up doing end-of-the-pier shows) is now Professor of Music at the Conservatoire in Glasgow.

"It's funny learning to be an educator. I'm not an academic but I'm giving them forty years of experience. I say its about getting your head down and working hard." And not telling pupils they're headed for the end of the pier? "Exactly," he says, grinning.

But for all his career success, life doesn't run in perfect harmony. Phil suffers from the genetic heart disease which killed his brother in 2003.

The man's lust for life, being driven, determined to learn, to teach, has given him a great career, but possibly worsened his health?

"Two heart attacks by the age of thirty eight would suggest a Type A personality, a wee bit of a bampot and a busy head," he agrees.

"Sometimes I feel my life is a bit like that of Tom Sharpe's character, Henry Wilt. One of total chaos."

Phil, who lives in South Queensferry, has had three stents fitted and at the moment he feels fine. Yet, what about his personal life? Did he and Ally Bain ever consider getting married?

The suggestion prompts a loud laugh and a memory recall; "Once on stage at the Fochabers folk festivalI I mentioned to the audience Ally and I had been a couple for fifteen years. I meant to say 'Duo'.

"But you should have seen the faces of these big farmers. They nearly fell off their chairs.

"But Aly and I are a bit like an old married couple. We know what will get on each other's nerves and what will keep the air clear."

* Phil Cunningham's Pipe Dream, BBC2, Wednesday at 9pm.