Paddy Moloney
The leader and founder of The Chieftains. Founded in 1962, the exceptionally long-lived band has released nearly 40 albums to worldwide acclaim.
“On Tuesday 12 October 2021, Ireland lost a monument, a legend of its rich musical culture. The leader and founder of the Chieftains, Paddy Moloney, born on 1 August 1938 in Donnycarney, has died at the age of 83.”
Through his collaborations with international stars, he also exported traditional Irish music to new horizons: film music with Stanley Kubrick for Barry Lyndon, collaborations with Sting, Mark Knopfler, Sinéad O’Connor, the Rolling Stones, forays into country music with Chet Atkins or classical music with James Galway and numerous symphony orchestras and even the famous Muppet Show…
The group won a total of 6 Grammy Awards.
Paddy Moloney played the uilleann pipes, which are played seated with a bellows under the elbow to blow air. Born into a family where music was part of everyday life, he started playing the tin whistle (Irish flute) at the age of 6, and the uilleann pipes at the age of 8.
Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains had many links with Brittany and in particular with the Festival Interceltique de Lorient through his good friend Polig Montjarret, with whom he maintained a strong friendship that even led him to buy a house near Bubry.
In 2008, Paddy said: “For me, coming to Lorient is a bit like coming home. It was the early days in the 1970s that made the biggest impression on me. The evenings in the bars. At the end, the waiter would leave us the key and ask us to make a note of our drinks and lock up when we left. Those were great times! I remember the Dubliners diving into the dock one night after the concert…”.
Paddy, The Chieftains and the Lorient Interceltic festival, these are
A concert was even scheduled for the 50th edition of FIL in 2020, but the pandemic decided otherwise.
