The last time I saw them on Irish TV (a few months ago) they also included a guitarist whacking out the usual heavily strummed chords and using a music stand to read them from! I don't know whether this has become the norm or whether it was a one-off, but I don't think it added anything to their sound, only covered up. That monotonous (and over-amplified) strumming beat obscured any rhythmic subtlety in the music. But I don't know how regular an occurrence this is. (A music stand???? For bog-standard three-chord accompaniment that you hear in every pub? What's that about?)   

Also it meant that you couldn't really hear the bodhran much. Or the harp either - a plectrum hitting metal strings will always dominate finger-plucked nylon ones. Harp is kind of unusual and it has been a unique part of the Chieftains sound since about 1974 when Derek Bell joined them on Chieftains 4 (?? I think it was 4). It's not a common instrument in trad line-ups and the woman they have playing it is excellent. Shame we couldn't really hear her. Kevin either.

Still, it was Irish telly, which means local, which means that this isn't necessarily their gig-touring outfit. BTW I think Paddy has been given star billing for a long time, maybe always. "Paddy Moloney and The Chieftains" is a familiar tag. Now that Martin Fahy has retired it makes Paddy the only survivor from Seán Ó Riada's original group Ceoltoiri Cualann, out of which which The Chieftains originated in the early 60s.

[formerly GUEST caitlín]