‘It wasn’t until I travelled to Canada with 78th Fraser Highlanders and stayed with John Cairns that I discovered how the Canadian guys were engulfed by the solo scene’


The most successful music changes your


perspective without you truly knowing it. This could be said for much of the music that made up Murray Blair’s Philharmonic collection from the 90s, to which Ian was a contributor. It was cutting-edge composition but never seemed to overpower the traditional nature of the music and the use of the scale and bal- ance. They challenged it, certainly, however the tunes still worked within the context of a medley.


You can see this in the fact that these tunes still appear in many medleys today alongside very traditional strathspey and reel combina- tions.


Like most great pipers, Ian has had many in- fluences on both his band and solo careers. “In Northern Ireland, early on in my playing career, it was very much dominated by bands and light music solos. I joined the RUC Pipe Band as a teenager and was competing at the Junior level in solos but only light music. I got my


first piobaireachd from my father, but it was more a case of, ‘Learn the music and figure it out’. He’d sing me the tune and answer ques- tions about the music. “It wasn’t until I travelled to Canada with


78th Fraser Highlanders and stayed with John Cairns that I discovered how the Canadian guys were ‘engulfed’ by the solo scene, which occurred on the same day as the pipe band contests. I wasn’t really keen on it from the start but the opportunity to learn from John was too


PIPING TODAY • 13


Photo: Stuart Curnow


PROFILE


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