EXCLUSIVE/ Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains: Traditional Irish Music is Rampant Today

The musical ensemble the Chieftains, famous for their music throughout the world, are a musical and cultural institution in their native Ireland. Formed in long ago 1963 on the initiative of Paddy Maloney, who plays tin whistle and a half dozen other traditional Irish instruments, they have over their long career not only embraced the glorious musical traditions of the Emerald Isle, but they have kept it vigorously alive for future generations.

In recent years, the Chieftains have been open to a wide array of musical projects, from collaborations with rock legends like Van Morrison, Mick Jagger, and Sting, to learning and playing in the musical traditions of other countries and cultures. The latest of these projects is their most recent album, “San Patricio,” featuring American musician Ry Cooder, and many Mexican artists.

The music is a fusion of Irish and Latin sounds that tells the story of a long-forgotten Irish and Mexican alliance during Mexico’s war with the United States.

The Chieftains were in Italy this week, where they gave a concert outside Milan. The two hours of Celtic music and dance were well received by the packed house; many in attendance wore Irish colors and waved Irish flags. The performance defied imitation: wild dances in the “Ottawa Valley” style, rousing tunes of a people who know well how to celebrate, and songs that remember tragedy and glory in ways so much more powerful than words alone. These are the things that teach our children all that is worth living and dying for.

While the group was in Milan, Il Sussidiario capitalized on the chance to speak with Paddy Maloney, the legendary founder and musical soul of the group.

You play a number of traditional Irish instruments, starting with the tin whistle when you were only six, and you founded the Chieftains. Would you describe for us the scene in Ireland today for traditional Irish music? Are there many bands who make musical choices similar to the Chieftains, or do young people in Ireland prefer to follow rock or alternative bands like U2?

Today it’s rampant! I have no fears as people did in the fifties and sixties that this great folk art would die away because modern music would take over. At that time it wasn’t the hip thing to go around with a fiddle or a pipes under your arm.

And today?

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