Well it is not often that I plunk down my money and take the family out to a Chieftains concert but I some how thought I should make the investment this year.

At $35 a ticket (orchestra mid back) times three that's a lot of CDS which are not being purchased at $15.00 per cd that's 7. So I guess crudely at the bottom line materialistically.... the question is was it worth 7 cds?

The answer on this level is Yes! You simply can not find such quality everywhere the ornaments alone were worth it and in a good hall where you can hear well Yes a very good and long performance.

Well now moving to the second level what about the mechanics of the production? What was the quality of the sound generated. For the most part I could hear well enough to sing along. Even if the songs were new to you as they are to many, you could understand the ords of most pieces. There was however, one exception.

This came in the set derived from the new cd of the Irish in America series. I really liked the music from the series and am out to find the CD. One problem of course is that the original artists- Mary Black and Van Morrison were absent. Ok...I am paying enough as it is and the Chieftains filled in quite well. They even found a local Choir to sing Shennandoah and another piece or two. The trouble as far as sound quality came when Derek Bell let loose with the keyboard synthesizer. A whole orchestra sound totally dominated and destroyed any feeling of traditional parameters created by the great chieftains performance. The net effect was more than this as the balance was off and the end product was the creation of a mud ball of sound.Simply too much.

I could not understand the words of the chorus under the synthesizer or the soloist. This was a pity as I did really like the music itself.

I would strongly suggest that Derek Bell who is an accomplished pianist be allowed to accompany the pieces with the concert piano which was in fact on stage throughout - reserved for the last number. He could have easily carried it off well and the traditional feel would have been maintained. The chorus could have also perhaps rehearsed more so as to be clearer but this is to be expected if they are using a local group at each stop. The essence of a Chieftains concert is the feeling that you are in a living room on a traditional scale and the synthesized sound is very much out of place- now in a movie or tv show it might have done better- but there the music is background whereas at a concert the music and the lyrics are the focus and must be clear and understood.

That was about all for the sound quality dimension and traditional feel. For the most part just fine- excellent.

Now on to content- were the songs I wanted to here there? Since I started following the Chieftains in the early 70s there have been a lot of records and a lot of tracks. Ideally one would want them all but of course no one would have enough money for that! But what about my favorites- that would be a manageable number- would they be played? The answer here is YES! My old gaelic favorites were there -some from the old Sean O Se days. I had played and told my daughter about the foxhunt and it was there along with a very good assortment of the songs one wants the group to perform. This was impressive! High marks here!

Another consequence of a long recording history is that the interests of the group change over the years. New dimensions of music are explored. Some of them fun (Another Country= country and western) some of them fascinating (Breton songs from Celtic Wedding) others exotic (chieftains in China) some I didn't care much for (Spanish Galicia a bit too latin) (Black Vale a bit too much rock....stung!) The question was... Would these detours derail the over all Irish traditional nature of the presentation? Would a Chieftains Concert be a Chieftain's Concert?

Well... I had to sit through spanish guitar (just not celtic or Irish!!! guys-do spanish guitar musicians often use Irish instruments in their shows? -hey I don't think so! That should tell you something) but it wasn't too long (although a substitution for it with a good tenor singing some of the old gael linn songs from the 45s would have been a better use of the time....) The balance saved the show and in some ways the spanish bit cleaned the palate for more Irish Traditional. (but can we afford to loose a moment of Good irish traditional music from these masters?) I am in a way a fan of pan-celtism so it was appropriate but on the edge of tolerence on the trad for buck scale.

What else was there- well the excellent use of local musicians from the local Pub Scene - who appeared down at J. Patrick's to play after the concert- a good inspiration for the young. Billy McCommisky sat too far back and couldn't be seen and they should have played one more song together but none the less it worked well.

Dancers....well these days you have to have floor stompers at every Irish event but tell me how traditional are the neon silk costumes and is it true that a requirement of all Irish dancers is that they be anorexically rail thin. The Female dancer had no figure what so ever and while I would imagine that an earth mother goddess type would be equally extreme I would have liked a good honest ordinary dancer in ordinary clothes--the two dancers looked like they had come from a circus or burlesque show rather than from a traditional living room or pub.(step this way and see the thinist woman on earth making the loudest noise in the world with her feet- hey! I feel for the pudgy 4th grader learning how to dance! what a setback! ) So in my aesthetic mental view they clashed with the wood tones of the flute and fiddles. (now if they had a hoop of fire to jump through that would be good- right this way folks satin clad man jigs through hoop of fire stomping it out as he goes through...)

A good evening though. Lets cut the plug off the synthesizer and find a few real dancers. I think there is enough forgotten old material for a completely Irish Traditional Show and that people would still attend. Paddy Malloney is doing good work with his expansion of the tradition and walking in the shoes left by O'Riada along the path of the film and television score. We must be careful however to let the traditional flavor rise to the top as it will do if you let it. There must be confidence in it to let it carry the day. Let us leave the grand electronic/symphonic sounds for the films.

When you go to a Chieftains concert you will still find that traditional back room and parlor and a genuine music conveyed to your ears by the very best artists the tradition has to offer. Save up and go to one!