The Chieftains

views updated

The Chieftains

Irish folk ensemble

For the Record…

Performed Together in Ceoltoiri Chualann

Became Full-Time Chieftains

Brought Irish Music to China

More Collaboration With Pop Performers

Selected discography

Sources

In the early 1950s Irish music wasn’t even popular in Ireland. When a young Paddy Moloney began learning traditional music, his Dublin neighbors found it quite odd. At the time, according to St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch contributor Jay Walljasper, Irish kids were learning American and British pop music and trying to play guitars and saxophones; it seemed that only old people cared about the national music. Back then a big festival of traditional music would attract only a few hundred participants. Fortunately for Moloney, however, what seemed to be the end of Irish folk music was actually the beginning of a revival and he was in the middle of it. Decades later, as the leader of the Chieftains, he still is. More precisely, Moloney and the Chieftains are at the top of Irish folk music—unquestionably its leading artists.

“As ambassadors for traditional Irish music, the Chieftains are without peer,” stated Rick Mason in the Pioneer Press. “And although their rabid following is still considered cultish compared to, say, [rock band] Bon Jovi, it is devoted and widespread. Folk music isn’t

For the Record…

Members include Derek Bell (harp, timpan [hammered dulcimar], and oboe; joined band in 1972), Kevin Conneff (percussion, bodhran, vocals; replaced Peadar Mercier [from Cork, Ireland; joined band in 1967], c. 1976), David Fallon (deceased; bodhran; performed on first album only), Martin Fay (fiddle and bones), Sean Keane (from Dublin, Ireland; fiddle; joined band c. 1980), Ronnie McShane (bones; performed on two albums), Matt Molloy (flute and tin whistle; replaced Sean Potts and Michael Tubridy, 1980), and Paddy Moloney (born c. 1938; from Dublin; uilleann pipes and tin whistle).

Band formed in 1963, in Dublin; members played together in duos and trios, 1950s; Moloney, Potts, Tubridy, Fay, and Mercier joined Sean O Riada’s Ceoltoiri Chualann, early 1960s, formed the Chieftains, 1963; recorded first album, The Chieftains 1, 1964, on Claddagh; signed management contract with Jo Lustig, 1975; toured the U.S.; toured China, 1983.

Awards: Academy Award, 1976, for soundtrack to Barry Lyndon; Grammy Award nomination for The Chieftains 9: Boil the Breakfast Early, 1980, and for Irish Heartbeat, 1988; Genie Award (Canada), 1983, for soundtrack to The Gray Fox; Moloney has an honorary doctorate of music from Trinity College.

Addresses: Record company —Shanachie Records Corp., 37 East Clinton St., Newton, NJ 07860.

supposed to be this popular.” Performing together since the early 1960s, the Chieftains have built a following that spans the musical spectrum; pop, rock, folk, and classical music critics alike rave about their albums and performances and their collaborators have ranged from traditional Chinese ensembles to classical flutist James Galway and rocker Elvis Costello. They are praised for both their musical skills, which Mason called “technically superb,” and their live performances. “Sheer, unabashed virtuosity is the Chieftains’ strongest selling point, whether they are piping hot or cool. When they take off together on a madcap reel or jig, the effect is electrifying,” wrote Time. Mason echoed this sentiment: “Paddy Moloney and the boys are the quintessential Irish band: poignant, exuberant, playful, occasionally raucous and never taking themselves too seriously.”

The Chieftains’ virtuosity is enhanced by the individual talents of its members. According to Stephen Holden of the New York Times, Paddy Moloney is “the master of the bellows-blown instrument know as the uilleann pipes.” These are Irish pipes, similar to the Scottish bag pipes, but pumped by bellows under the arm rather than breath-blown. Moloney is also an accomplished composer and the Chieftains’ primary producer. Both harpist Derek Bell and fiddler Martin Fay are classically trained, and Sean Keane was an all-Ireland fiddle champion. All of the members of the band share in the musical arrangements. In Rolling Stone Scott Isler noted that it is the band’s credentials, as well as their arrangements, that “distinguish the Chieftains from [other] tradition-bound Irish groups.”

Performed Together in Ceoltoiri Chualann

Before 1960 ensemble performances of Irish music were rare. Musicians played solo or in groups of two or three. Sean O Riada, a classically trained composer and performer, envisioned something different and formed Ceoltoiri Chualann—a sort of Irish folk orchestra. He was joined by several future Chieftains: Moloney, Fay, Sean Potts, Michael Tubridy, and Peadar Mercier. O Riada’s experiment eventually became the norm and before long ensembles were common.

In 1963 Moloney, Tubridy, Potts, Fay, and David Fallon formed the Chieftains. Their name came from poet John Montague’s work “Death of a Chieftain.” According to Irish Folk Music’s Deborah Schaeffer, their first album—recorded on Dublin’s Claddagh label in 1964—was an experiment; after it was completed the members of the band continued with their regular jobs, occasionally performing on evenings and weekends.

The ensemble hoped to do something new with Irish music. Although their pieces were classically arranged, the Chieftains played them only on traditional instruments: Tubridy on flute and concertina, Potts on tin whistle, Fay on fiddle, Fallon on bodhran (a goat-skin drum), and Moloney on tin whistle and uilleann pipes. “It was their goal to restore a music downgraded in the cities of Ireland, and to do so with only such instruments as would have been traditionally available,” noted James Tarbox of the Pioneer Press. Another unusual aspect of the Chieftains’ music was its blending of traditions: “The music of the Chieftains is an amalgam of two distinct Irish traditions: the single-voiced, unaccompanied pipe tunes of the folk people, and the richer, harmonized rustle of the Irish harp. It is the careful blending of the two that give the Chieftains their special sound,” explained Time.

The success of the Chieftains’ first album led Moloney to a job with Claddagh Records, where he produced dozens of albums. The Chieftains did not record a second album for five years. They did, however, continue to play together—with Ceoltoiri Chualann and as the Chieftains—and their audience grew. In 1970 Ceoltoiri Chualann disbanded, leaving Moloney and company more time to devote to the Chieftains. They had recorded their second album, The Chieftains 2, the previous year. This time Mercier joined them on bodhran and bones (animal bones played like castanets), and Keane joined as well. But even with a second album and the dissolution of their other ensemble, the Chieftains still held onto their day jobs.

The ensemble continued to record intermittently throughout the early 1970s and their roster grew; with The Chieftains 3 harpist Derek Bell became a permanent member. According to the Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Bell became a “leading light in the band, with extrovert stage antics, patter as well as virtuosity.” By this time traditional Irish music was becoming increasingly popular throughout the world and by mid-decade the Chieftains were in high demand.

Became Full-Time Chieftains

1975 proved to be a big year in the Chieftains’ career. In January they signed a managing contract with Jo Lustig, finally gave up their other jobs, added Ronnie McShane on bones, and generally began devoting more time to musical pursuits. The next album, The Chieftains 5, was their first released in the United States; its debut was followed by the ensemble’s first U.S. tour. The Chieftains were no less popular on their own side of the Atlantic. Time reported that Britain’s Melody Maker named them top group of the year—“for making unfashionable music fashionable”—and they sold out London’s 8,000-seat Albert Hall twice. As if this weren’t enough, the Chieftains capped the year by winning an Oscar for their soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon.

During the late seventies the Chieftains’ following grew and their lineup changed. They continued to record for film and television and in 1979 performed in front of the largest audience ever assembled—1.2 million people plus 800 million watching on television—when Pope John Paul II visited Dublin. The Chieftains 9: Boil the Breakfast Early, released in 1980 and nominated for a Grammy, marked substantial changes in the ensemble. For the first time a Chieftains album included vocals, provided by Kevin Conneff, who had earlier replaced Mercier on bodhran. By this time Tubridy and Potts had left the group and their space was taken up by Matt Molloy on flute and tin whistle.

By 1980 the Chieftains were firmly established as the best and best-known performers of traditional Irish music. “In importance and fame, the Chieftains are the Rolling Stones of their field,” Rolling Stone’s Isler wrote that year. Despite these lofty heights, however, the Chieftains began to expand their range, taking side trips into related fields. This direction was apparent in their 1981 release, The Chieftains 10: Cotton-Eyed Joe; Schaeffer described the title track in Irish Folk Music as “Texas meets the Chieftains.”

Brought Irish Music to China

As if Texas weren’t far enough from Irish tradition, the Chieftains next jaunt took them to China; in 1983 they became one of the first Western groups to perform in China and the first to play with a traditional Chinese folk orchestra. Rather than going to China to simply play Irish music, the Chieftains wanted to blend the Irish and Chinese musical traditions. At first Moloney was anxious about their ability to do this. “Before we left Ireland, I sent over some music for [the Chinese] to have a go at,” he told Pioneer Press contributor Tarbox. “But I didn’t know what would be going on until we got there. The Chinese have more than 200 traditional instruments, and any combination might be waiting for us.” Much to his delight, Moloney discovered that the Chinese used the same musical system he used and that their instruments blended beautifully. During the tour the Chieftains used their Irish instruments to create traditional Chinese sounds. Schaeffer noted that the Irish and Chinese instruments are similar in harmonies and that the “Chinese flavor gives a baroque mood to these selections.”

The Chieftains’ next production took them out of the Irish tradition again, but this time they remained within their musical family, exploring the music of their Celtic relatives in Brittany, a historical peninsular region of northwest France. The pieces performed on this album—Celtic Wedding —were taken from a collection assembled by Polig Monjarret and published in his Toniou Breizh-Izell (Traditional Tunes From Lower Brittany). Consumers’ Research magazine described the album as “fascinating … spirited, [and] charming, though occasionally tinged with sadness.”

As the Chieftains experimented with different musical traditions, they also began working with an eclectic group of performers. Their fans and collaborators had long included many musical luminaries: Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Jerry Garcia, Jackson Browne, the Rolling Stones, and Don Henley. In 1987 the group recorded and toured with Irish classical flutist James Galway, who set aside his usual fare of classical music and joined the Chieftains in their characteristic jigs, reels, and airs. A year later they joined another famous Irish performer, pop singer Van Morrison, to record Irish Heartbeat. The album, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for best folk recording, included both traditional Irish songs and original Morrison compositions. As David Browne wrote in Rolling Stone, Irish Heartbeat was a very natural, and even expected, merger of two of Ireland’s most widely loved musical entities. “Yet even those expectations don’t prepare one for the splendor and intense beauty of Irish Heartbeat, a collection of ballads that finds both acts at the top of their form.”

More Collaboration With Pop Performers

1991 found the Chieftains collaborating with pop musicians again, this time on a Christmas album entitled The Bells of Dublin. Joining the group in this effort were Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, Marianne Faithfull, Nanci Griffith, Rickie Lee Jones, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and Northumbrian pipes player Kathryn Ticknell. The album mixed traditional Irish hymns and dances with new compositions; Rolling Stone’s assessment of the work was succinct, stating that the music was “of course, exactly what you might expect from the Chieftains—magnificent.”

No matter the direction they take, the Chieftains most likely will not stray from their roots and traditions. According to Pioneer Press contributor Mason, they are “staunch purists” when it comes to traditional music. “We would never come down the ladder,” Moloney told him. “True, traditional playing in our way is what we want to do. We want to pursue that line all the time. But now and again we sidetrack a little bit.… And all these little sidetracks are always something that suits the instruments and the style of how we play traditional Irish music. If it’s a good, well-constructed tune, then we respond.” And the Chieftains’ strict adherence to the traditions of Irish music have indeed served them well. “There is something in this venerable music—handed down from generation to generation, often in defiance of British Law—that kindles a good feeling in almost everyone who hears it,” Jay Walljasper wrote in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “The rollicking jigs, reels and slow melodic airs will be played … as they might have been at a wedding dance 300 years ago. This historical continuity—oblivious to the fads and fetishes of fashion—is one of the things making Irish music so powerful.”

Selected discography

Albums

The Chieftains 1, Shanachie, 1964.

The Chieftains 2, Shanachie, 1969.

The Chieftains 3, Shanachie, 1971.

The Chieftains 4, Shanachie, 1973.

The Chieftains 5, Shanachie, 1975.

The Chieftains 6: Bonaparte’s Retreat, Shanachie, 1976.

The Chieftains 7, Columbia, 1977.

The Chieftains Live, Shanachie, 1977.

The Chieftains 8, CBS, 1978.

The Chieftains 9: Boil the Breakfast Early, Columbia, 1980.

The Chieftains 10: Cotton-Eyed Joe, Shanachie, 1981.

The Chieftains in China, Shanachie, 1985.

Celtic Wedding: Music of Brittany Played by Irish Musicians, RCA, 1987.

(With James Galway) James Galway and the Chieftains in Ireland, RCA Red Seal, 1987.

(With Van Morrison) Irish Heartbeat, Mercury, 1988.

A Chieftains Celebration, RCA, 1989.

The Chieftains: “Reel Music,” RCA, 1991.

(With Rickie Lee Jones, Marianne Faithfull, Elvis Costello, Nanci Griffith, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Jackson Browne, Kathryn Ticknell, the Renaissance Singers, and Burgess Meredith) The Bells of Dublin, RCA, 1991.

The Best of the Chieftains, Legacy, 1992.

(With Roger Daltry and Nanci Griffith) The Chieftains: An Irish Evening —Live at the Grand Opera House, Belfast, RCA, 1992.