A night of nostalgia as TG4 marks 50th anniversary of The Chieftains

Date Published: {J}

By Declan Tierney

It promises to be a night of nostalgia when The Chieftains celebrate their 50th anniversary with a programme which will be broadcast on TG4 on Christmas Night.

The Chieftains in concert was recorded in Matt Molloy’s pub in Westport last week and will be shown as part of a Geantraí na Nollag special.

The show is presented by Páidí Ó Lionáird and was recorded in front of a packed pub. It kick starts a series of celebration concerts to mak their half a century in the music business.

Performing on the show will be legendary Chieftains front man Paddy Maloney on pipes and whistle; flute player Matt Molloy; Sean Keane on fiddle and Kevin Conneff on bodhrán and vocals.

They are joined by guest musicians including harpist Tríona Marshall and guitarist Tim Edey and there was no surprise among their guests that the ‘birthday boys’ were given huge ovations.

Singers Paul Brady and Eddi Reader, who have both recorded with The Chieftains, made the celebration an even more memorable occasion. Paul performed The Lakes of Ponchartrain while Eddi sang My Love is Like a Red Red Rose with The Chieftains providing the backing for both songs.

Paul and Eddi combined for Paul’s song, Follow On and Eddi also sang the great Declan O’Rourke song, Galileo.

If it was a 50-year celebration night for The Chieftains, the event marked the debut outing of The Teetotallers, a new group featuring three of the country’s top musicians, fiddler Martin Hayes, flute player Kevin Crawford and guitarist John Doyle.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.