Trad Beat Chieftains play it straight — and well

By Earle Hitchner

THE CHIEFTAINS. At Carnegie Hall, NYC. March 17.

The recent reissue of early Chieftains recordings by Atlantic/Claddagh is a reminder of just how deep the Irish traditional roots run for this band, soon to enter their 40th year together. The Chieftains’ "Water from the Well" (RCA Victor), nominated for a 2001 Grammy as best

world-music album, returned to those primal roots without the tendrils of rock and pop. What better way, then, for the world’s most popular Irish traditional ensemble to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year than with basic trad.

The band played the traditional "Kilfenora Jig" with great gusto, and

"North Amerikay," a traditional song expertly sung by Kevin Conneff, turned the convention of homesick Irish immigrants on its ear, stating that two lovers, happily relocated to Canada, "think no more of Ireland nor Enniskillen town."

Music selected from the soundtrack to the film "Agnes Browne" was nimbly played by its composer, Paddy Moloney, on tin whistle with Derek Bell on harp. That segued into "The Rocky Road to Dublin," a song the Chieftains had recorded with the Rolling Stones. Apart from brief flashing lights and the opening riff to "(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction," the band gave the Irish song a strict traditional setting, and it came across as good fun.

Wearing a silver neck chain and black pants with red piping, Prince

Edward Island fiddler Richard Wood proved he had the chops to match his threads. During a round-robin set with other band members, he started off with a slice of George and Ira Gershwin’s "Oh Lady, Be Good" before launching into more traditional tunes. His fiery fiddling and rubber-ankled dancing, at times done simultaneously, brought the house down.

Another guest, Beijing vocalist Dadawa, was a bit strident in her singing of a song she wrote with Moloney, but her take on "Foggy Dew" fared far better, capturing much of the spirit of this Easter Rising-inspired composition.

Butler, John Jennings, and former "Riverdance" and "Dancing on Dangerous Ground" star Colin Dunne. Set dancers Paul Keating, Joan Dolan, Bill Lynch, and Footworks’ trouper Megan Downes also got in the swing of things during the "Ballyfin Polkas."

Instrumental solo highlights belonged, as usual, to Chieftains’ fiddler Seán Keane, who excelled in his playing of the Donegal-flavored "Johnny

Cope/King of the Pipers/The Glen Road to Carrick" medley, and to Chieftains’ flutist Matt Molloy, who cut loose on "Sweets Banks of Moy/The Dusty Miller/Devil’s in Dublin/Colonel Fraser" and "The Mason’s Apron" reel.

Creeping into this Chieftains’ concert, however, were a little too much familiarity (a patron sitting next to me was virtually lip-synching some of Moloney’s stage remarks) and shtick (through mugging and other gestures, band members fake-derided Derek Bell’s predictable ragtime number). But there were some refreshing new looks too, particularly when Moloney, known for his long-standing aversion to the accordion, played one during the band’s combined "Dingle Set" and "An Poc Ar Buile" ("Mad Puck Goat") song.

As an encore, New York pianist Felix Dolan joined the Chieftains and guests for "Miss Monaghan’s/Foxhunter’s" reels. It was a rousing close to an evening emphasizing the Irish tradition at its heartiest by a band who, shorn of corn, can still muster performances of ageless agility.