Thursday, February 24, 2011

This Irish band ain’t fiddlin’ around

"First it’s the brogue, and then the stories of the people he’s met and the places he’s been in a career spanning 50 years, that let you know you’re talking to a real legend in traditional Irish music.

As the leader of The Chieftains, a group that has six Grammys under its belt, Paddy Moloney is the ebullient spokesman for the band, which also includes fiddler Sean Keane, flautist Matt Molloy and bodhran player Kevin Conneff .

Moloney himself has played the tin whistle and uilleann pipes since he was a young lad growing up in Dublin. He formed the original lineup of The Chieftains in 1962 and they took their name from The Death of a Chieftain by John Montague, an Irish poet and author.

In 1975, The Chieftains started playing together full-time and have since put out some 25 albums and worked with such artists as Luciano Pavarotti, Sting, Elvis Costello and The Rolling Stones.

The group has also been named the official Musical Ambassadors for their home country."

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