John Dwyer was a fiddle player and composer from Caolrua on the Béara Peninsula in West Cork. He was born in 1933 to a musical family of nine children and was thus surrounded by music from a young age. John began composing in his teens and was  comfortable reading music and this greatly aided him in his own composing and allowed him to preserve his compositions in written form.

When John joined An Garda Síochána in 1955, he made many of his lifelong musical friends. John was an integral part of the revival of Irish traditional music in Dublin and his career also led him to moving around the country to places such as Gorey in Wexford,  An Rinn in Waterford and New Ross, where he spent the rest of his life. John’s contribution to the music of these areas can be felt to this day.


John Dwyer passed away in August 2020 and left behind him a rich legacy of music. He was a gentleman who encouraged other musicians and always had a kind word for everyone.

His compositions are many but he was best known for his reels John Dwyer’s and The Caha Mountains and for the  jigs The Sunny Hills of Béara and The Fox in the Thatch. He was recognised for his compositions along with his brother Finbarr in 2010 when TG4 awarded them both Cumadóir na Bliana (Composer of the Year). 

John’s music and memory lives on while his compositions continue to be played and let us remember him for the humble, kind and generous person that he was.

(The above bio is a summary from the more detailed information on the  website of Pax Ó Faoláin.)

 Further information and transcriptions of John's compositions can be found here:​​

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