An enthusiastic force for traditional Irish music
PADDY Moloney was a founder and leader of the Chieftains, a band that made Irish traditional music famous across the globe. Moloney (83) died on Monday. A composer, arranger of traditional music and innovative musician on the tin whistle and the uilleann pipes, Moloney was a towering influence in Irish music for more than six decades. His ambition for the band and his love of music led to a long series of collaborations on stage and on record with a wide variety of performers, some from the pop and rock world and others who made traditional music from a variety of cultures.
The Chieftains grew out of informal groupings of highly accomplished musicians in Dublin. In 1959, Moloney was recruited by the composer Sean O Riada to arrange the music for the play The Golden Folk at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. This led to O Riada forming Ceoltoiri Chualann, playing Irish music in a chamber orchestra style with O Riada on harpsichord and Moloney, Sean Potts (whistle) and Michael Tubridy (flute). The arrangements, with musicians playing in various combinations, using harmony rather than the unison playing of Irish dance bands, had a great influence on the Chieftains’ musical style.
Moloney formed the group in 1962 with Potts, Tubridy, Martin Fay (fiddle) and David Fallon (bodhran) specifically to make an album for Garech Browne’s new Claddagh record label, with Moloney arranging all the music. The album was called simply The Chieftains, to be followed by The Chieftains 2 (1969), then The Chieftains 3 and so on, right up to number 10 in 1980. There was a turnover of band members, but the central and dominating figure of Moloney ensured that the Chieftains’ winning style continued.
The band did not perform in public until 1964 and only turned professional in the mid1970s, so their initial reputation was based almost entirely on the recordings. The first album achieved almost cult status when featured by John Peel on his BBC Radio 1 Top Gear broadcasts, and when they did perform live, sometimes at pop festivals, their suits and ties made them unlikely targets for hippy adulation. But they and their music captivated audiences of all types and ages.
Browne enjoyed a lavish lifestyle and Moloney often performed at his parties, where he impressed friends such as Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger. During the postproduction of Chieftains 2 at the Abbey Road studios, Moloney gained another Chieftains fan in Paul McCartney, who later invited Moloney to play on a couple of album tracks.
In 1979, the Chieftains played for Pope John Paul II and a million people in Phoenix Park, Dublin, and, with substantial international touring, it was no surprise that they became Ireland’s honorary musical ambassadors in 1989.
The band received six Grammys over their long career as well as a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Radio 2 folk awards in 2002. Moloney always remained ambitious for the Chieftains, bringing enthusiasm, energy and business sense to all their projects. And he remained a superb uilleann piper.
Moloney was born in Donnycarney, north Dublin, to John, an army sergeant and Catherine (nee Conroy), both of whom were musicians, as were countless family members, especially those living near his maternal grandparents in Co Laois. Almost before he started at St Mary’s School, his mother recognised his musical talents and bought him a tin whistle. Paddy soon persuaded his parents to buy him a practice set of pipes, costing a whole week’s wages, and he enrolled at the school of music run by the master piper, Leo Rowsome.
He made his public debut, aged 8, with fellow musicians in Phoenix Park, and was soon winning prizes at competitions. Still in short trousers, he played alongside piping greats such as Seamus Ennis and Willie Clancy and was soon a regular performer at Dublin’s Pipers’ club.
In 1963 Moloney married Rita O’Reilly. She survives him, along with their sons, Aonghus and Padraig, and daughter, Aedin. — Guardian News