Pure unadulterated excitement

[davedove]

Even through the years and things that have befallen them, the Chieftans are still one great group that keeps Celtic music alive.

I also like how they work with people/groups from other styles of music, thereby bringing some people into Celtic music who might not have done so otherwise.

[Graham]

That's true David, they are real ambassadors of celtic music, they should be knighted!

I think I can say that one of the most exciting times I've ever had was doing an interview with paddy Maloney whent they were here in australia.
He is a real gentleman, one of the most humble and contented men I have met.

[macwilkin]

We saw the Chieftains back in January, 2004, when they played in Springfield. Our Scottish society went as a group, and our society piper got to play with them during the final set -- it was quite the experience!

My two favourte albums are "Fire the Kitchen", which features Celtic Canadian musicians, and "Santiago", which is primarily Celtic music from Galicia.

Cheers,

Todd

[Graham]

In Melbourne they got the pipe major of the local band to join them also.

I passed the piper in the aisle later, it was good to see a second man in the place kilted.
btw, paddy didn't say a word about the kitl when i spoke with him!

[macwilkin]

In Melbourne they got the pipe major of the local band to join them also.

I passed the piper in the aisle later, it was good to see a second man in the place kilted.
btw, paddy didn't say a word about the kitl when i spoke with him!

That seems to be a custom with them, bringing local Celtic musicians up on stage in the final set to play, there were several folks from the local Irish hoolie that played with them as well.

btw, I saw Matt Molloy in a pub after the show -- there were four of us kilted lads, including a friend of mine from Edinburgh (who was getting a lot of attention from the university lassies there), and Matt loved it!

Cheers,

Todd

[sav]

I, too, had the pleasure of performing with the Chieftains. When they performed in Pittsburgh a few years ago, myself and one other uilleann piper along with several other local musicians joined the Chieftains on stage for their final set. This was definitely one of the highlights of my piping career!

[jfellrath]

In the concert I saw them in here in Columbus, they didn't have a piper or Celtic artists with them, but they did have a bluegrass band (good bluegrass, not the country-takeoff stuff) and a harpist with them. You'd never think they'd all fit together, but it worked. And it worked nicely.

The leader of the bluegrass band made the comment, though, that musically, they all came from the same place. In other words, bluegrass and traditional Celtic music had similar starts in the rural music of Ireland.