Toasting to 50 years of The Chieftains

CLARE musicians Martin Hayes, Kevin Crawford and Edel Fox will strike up the tunes in a special Christmas Day tribute programme on TG4, to mark 50 years in the music business for acclaimed group The Chieftains.
Geantraí, presented by Paidí Ó Lionaird, was recorded in Matt Molloy’s pub in Wesport. Flute player Matt is one of the band members.
Among the guests joining The Cheiftains for the celebrations were singers Paul Brady and Eddi Reader, The Teetotallers featuring Martin Hayes, Kevin Crawford and John Doyle, box player Mairtín O’Connor with Cathal Hayden and Seamie O’Dowd and fiddle players Liz and Yvonne Kane with Edel Fox.
Paddy Maloney on pipes and whistle is probably the most recognised face of The Chieftains and the other members are flute player Matt Molloy, Sean Keane on fiddle and Kevin Conneff on bodhrán and vocals.
Together with guest musicians, harpist Triona Marshall and guitarist Tim Edey, they turned back the years in style, playing as ever to huge ovations.
A packed pub got the all star treatment from an impressive line-up of artists. Singers Paul Brady and Eddi Reader, who recorded with The Chieftains, made it a night of nostalgia. Paul performed The Lakes of Ponchartrain and Eddi sang My Love is like a Red Red Rose with great backing from The Chieftains.
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, it was a debut night for The Teetotallers, a new group featuring top fiddler Martin Hayes, flute player Kevin Crawford and guitarist John Doyle.
More great music came from the very experienced Mairtín O’Connor on accordion, Cathal Hayden on fiddle and Seamie O’Dowd on guitar.
The talented Galway fiddle playing sisters Liz and Yvonne Kane, who have performed in concert with The Chieftains previously, were joined by a former winner of the TG4 Young Musician of the Year Award, concertina player Edel Fox.
Adding some great Connemara talent on the night were sean nós dancer Emma O’Sullivan and sean nós singer Jimmy Ó Ceannabháin, the recent winner of Corn Uí Riada at Oireachtas na hÉireann.
The one-hour tribute programme airs on Chrsitmas Day on TG4 at 9pm.