Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503160001
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY CAMPBELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Long
This year, the spirited sextet is turning concerts into hooleys - Irish house dances - in 22 American cities, with their Uilleann pipes, two fiddles, harp, bodhran and flute. It's part of a tour that will keep them traveling most of the year.
When piper Paddy Moloney founded the group as a quartet in November 1962, he says, ``I had a dream that someday real Irish music, whether it be by us or not, will be recognized and played throughout the world, in all the big stages and great auditoriums.''
His dream came true for the music and for the Chieftains. They have not only played traditional Irish music on traditional Irish instruments on big, traditional stages but they've played on the Great Wall of China, near the Berlin Wall, at the Taj Mahal, for the pope and 1,350,000 other people in Dublin's Phoenix Park and in the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
The Chieftains' first big concert was in 1974, in Albert Hall in London. Later that year they gave concerts at Carnegie Hall here, Symphony Hall in Boston and the University of California at Los Angeles. ``It took a lot of hard slogging to get there,'' Moloney says.
Twenty-one years and a lot more slogging later, they're more in demand than ever.
``Everybody's knocking on our door,'' Moloney says. ``We've been to Japan three times in the last 12 months.''
Why is Irish music so popular?
``It has something that gets to people,'' Moloney says. ``People in other countries feel it could be theirs.''
The group's new RCA Victor album, ``The Long Black Veil,'' is selling faster here than any previous Chieftains album. It entered Billboard's pop chart at No. 24. It's No. 2 in Singapore, where they've never been.
``The Long Black Veil'' has a guest performer on almost every track. It starts with ``Mo Ghile Mear'' (``Our Hero'') with Sting singing with Ireland's well-known Anuna Choir. Sting wanted to sing it all in Gaelic but Moloney persuaded him to do half in English.
Second is the title song, ``The Long Black Veil,'' sung by Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. Moloney pays Jagger his highest compliment: ``He sang it like a true Irishman.''
The album ends with ``The Rocky Road to Dublin,'' with the Rolling Stones. ``Mick came back to Dublin for it,'' Moloney says. ``They sort of felt they weren't up to singing the words. Our own Kevin Conneff sang.
``We'd been waiting all day. They came at 7 p.m. They brought their own bar. I provided the Guinness. At midnight, the place was flying. Forty people were dancing, having a great time.
``I needed to put something on tape. I said, `Keep your eye on me. I'll give you a nod when it's coming to the end.' I thought I was in control. People were in such splendid form, you couldn't plan it.''
After Moloney recorded two takes, including the sound of dancing, the partying continued.
``At 2 in the morning Keith [Richards] put his arm around my shoulders and said, `Musicians are musicians. Music is music. That's what it's all about.'
``After that, I said, `A friend of mine has a bar.' There were probably 200 young musicians there playing Irish music. I think they knew somebody was coming. We guzzled pints of Guinness till 6 in the morning. Even Mick, who doesn't drink or smoke anymore, came for the fun.''
The 56-year-old Moloney isn't running out of ideas for albums. In fact, he has too many. Music for the next, 32nd album will come from a part of Spain that had Irish immigrants in the 8th century.
``I'm turning down work every day at the moment,'' Moloney says. ``There's far too much on my plate.''
Despite such projects as recording Celtic-influenced American country music, ``Old traditional Irish music is our forte,'' Moloney says.
The Chieftains wrote and played music for the films ``Barry Lyndon,'' ``The Grey Fox,'' ``Treasure Island'' and ``Far and Away.'' The upcoming Liam Neeson movie ``Rob Roy'' will use their ``O'Sullivan's March.'' Moloney worked with composer Michael Kamen on the music for Albert Finney's ``The Circle of Friends.''
``Michael helped me with my `Famine Symphony' theme,'' Moloney says. He was inspired to compose a 50-minute symphony for the 150th anniversary of Ireland's potato famine.
The symphony will be premiered by the Quebec Symphony on July 12.
``It's commemorating our famine and bringing notice to the dreadful famine in the world today,'' Moloney says. ``I want to give it an international flavor. We've got Japanese drummers, some Indian musicians, the Rankin Family from Cape Breton Island, Canada, and a 40-member American gospel choir. Actor Richard Harris will narrate.
``It won't be all gloom. It will be uplifting in many respects.''
In 1989, the Chieftains were proclaimed ``Ireland's musical ambassadors.''
Moloney agrees.
``Guinness and the Chieftains export quite well,'' he says.
by CNB