‘Na Caismeachdan’ is John Dew’s 3rd studio release and is predominantly self-composed. This album, stylistic of Dew’s instrumental multi-layered composition, explores the ‘March’ idiom with each track exploring a different time signature, style, idiom and energy. From solo bagpiping to 5-part polyphony, and even a string quartet exploring an alternative “film music” style composition ‘Red Castle’, John performs bagpipes and whistles on the album and is accompanied by pianist Michael Biggins. The album was recorded by Alen Langdon at Solas Sounds studio and mixed and mastered by Chris Waite at Gran’s house studio. Artwork for the album was done by Orla Stevens.

John hails from Perthshire and began composing and performing at a young age. He graduated from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a First-Class Honours degree in traditional music in 2020. Since graduating John has been busy on the traditional music scene. In 2021 he released his E.P. ‘The High Bridge Walk’, followed by his tunebook, PIPETUNES. In 2021 he launched his first solo album ‘Mackerel Sky’ and then a digital book of pipe band suites titled ‘PIPE SUITES’. In 2024 he was in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Finals in City Halls, Glasgow. As well as releasing 2 previous albums, he has composed several short film music scores; one of which ‘What Separates Us from the Beasts’ won 3 Royal Television Society awards. John also arranged and composed the strings for the title track of Inveraray and District Pipe Band’s 2022 ‘A Night in that Land’ Pre-Worlds concert. John looks to fuse classical and folk idioms and harmonies in his compositions and has taken this opportunity in ‘Red Castle’, a whistle concerto is near completion too..

As a musician he has performed all over the world in various festivals, including Celtic Connections, Piping Live!, Celtic Colours international festival, T in the Park, The Crannog Summer music festival and Mela Festival in Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow. He has also performed in Phil Cunningham’s Iona Suite, Hamish Napier’s ‘The Railway’, Derek Scott’s bagpipe concerto with The Latvian National Orchestra, Skippinish in The Usher Hall and also performing a private concert for then HRH Prince Charles in Dumfries House.

He is a competitive solo piper and member of the 3-time world championship winning pipe band Inveraray and District Pipe Band. As a solo piper he has won various piping competitions including The Kempel Star for Marches at the Skye Gathering and the Piobaireachd event at the Royal National MOD in 2019, where he was crowned the MOD Champion Piper. He was overall champion piper at Monterey Scottish Highland Games in 2022, he has won the Former Winners MSR at the SPA on 2 occasions (2022-2023) and competes in the A-grades for light music and has won numerous prizes in The Silver Medal. In 2024 John won the Premier March, Strathspey and Reel event at The Royal National MOD in Oban. John now resides in Glasgow as a musician and the bagpipe instructor at The Glasgow Academy.

Dew says: “This project started as an E.P. but grew arms and legs with the more I wrote. I love writing in polyphony and this sort of tension and release was something I wanted to explore through the march idioms. I love polyphony and harmony and wanted to explore writing in that style for bagpipes as well as showcasing my orchestration skills with strings. I chose piano for accompaniment, simply for a change from guitar and bodhran.”

John will be launching the single ‘Red Castle’ live via his Facebook page on 1st August and then launching the full album at Piping Live! festival on the 12th of August. He hopes that this unique  album will help him become a recognised piper and composer to keep an eye out for in years to come.

Available from all major online platforms

CDs from johndew-composition.com, Birnam CD and Amazon