I am helping to promote a very famous relative of mine, John McLellan, Dunoon, who made quite an impact with his music and continues to do so today, writes Duncan MacGregor.
My role has been to promote his works and his life by setting up a tribute website. I’ve spoken to my cousins, Jim and Alasdair Henderson at various times and have their support with this project.
It’s the 150th anniversary of Jock’s birth next year and Jim would really like to see a statue erected near his current memorial plaque at the Castle House Museum in Dunoon, though, in the current financial climate, that may be a bit of a challenge to achieve. Sprucing up Jock’s current memorial may be the only thing financially possible.
It is 100 years, 1924, since John’s tune, the Bens of Jura, appeared as the song the ‘Road to the Isles’, words attributed to Marjory Kennedy Fraser, the well known folklorist and Gaelic music enthusiast. The song was on the Beltona label sung by contralto Miss Minnie Mearns with piano accompaniment.
It later became a huge hit for Sir Harry Lauder but unfortunately John never got any credit for it.
Earlier in the year, I spoke to Alasdair about the possibility of having a piping competition to honour John’s 150th, and I’m hopeful that will happen.
I also spoke to the Cowal Gathering committee and they are planning a major tribute. I’ve also approached the Clyde Coast Strathspey and Reel Society about being involved in the anniversary, and there are plans to have a special 150th anniversary medley of some of his popular, and not so well known tunes put together.
Recently I discovered a new photo of John which I had not seen before. It was taken at an angle, as it was on a wall, but I’ve attached it for you to see [top].
P/M John McLellan DCM’s TikTok tribute page has really done well since being launched a year ago. I hadn’t realised that so many pipers, drummers, pipe bands and pipe music fans were on TikTok and the feedback to Jock’s tribute pages has been really amazing.
The most popular video features the Police Scotland & Federation band playing an excerpt of the Bloody Fields of Flanders filmed at last year’s Worlds with almost 10,000 views.
We also have almost 300,000 video views to the tribute page to date which is great. The videos mainly feature John’s music, info, and related content about Scotland.
- Read more on John McLellan, his life and works, on Piping Press, here.
Well done and good luck to you with the various aspects of the project. He deserves to be remembered as arguably the composer of the Great Highland Bagpipe’s most beautiful melodies.