Chieftains to bring Irish, world vibes to Kimmel

'It's all related," says Paddy Moloney.

He's cofounder and heart of the Chieftains, the iconic - heck, atavistic - Irish band that jigs through town for a céilidh on Friday at the Kimmel Center. It's their 50th anniversary world tour, and in that half-century, they have dedicated themselves to playing with and for everyone and anyone around the world, discovering roots with many different kinds of music, from Dublin to Philadelphia to Africa to Oaxaca to China and back round. Or sinking down new roots, as they do in their new album, Voice of Ages.

Moloney, 73, is an international treasure, not only a multi-instrumentalist of awesome travels, but also a man who grew up alongside the Irish music movement.

He was in some of the first Fleadhanna Cheoil, or music festivals in the early 1950s in Mullingar, County Westmeath. "I was in the pipe competitions," he says, "and I said, 'I'm winning this one day.' And I did that."

Irish music went from something the oldsters did around the fire to a cultural patrimony to be preserved, studied, celebrated. And, above all, played. Today, the Fleodh Cheoil draws crowds of 250,000, one of the world's great annual musicfests.

"People forget," Moloney says, "that in the 1950s, the pubs in Ireland would kick you out if you tried to bring music in there. People would bring out the pipes and violins at home after dinner, everyone all did that, but they'd never want their neighbors to see them doing that stuff out of doors. They'd be mocked to death! But that attitude started to change fairly quickly."

Encouraged by older musicians, Moloney and friends took part in a burgeoning scene in music clubs in Dublin. The band that became the Chieftains were Moloney on uilleann pipes ("elbow" pipes, the national bagpipes of Ireland); Martin Fay on fiddle and bones (folk castanets originally made of animal bones); Seán Potts on tin whistle; Michael Tubridy on flute, and David Fallon on bodhrán (the flat, hand-held Irish drum). The band recorded its first album for the sainted Claddagh label in 1962. It was supposed to be a one-off. It wasn't.

To say it started slowly is an Irish understatement.

"It was semiprofessional for the longest time," Moloney says, speaking from his hotel room in New York. "We all had day jobs and played whenever we could. Then I took over Claddagh in 1974-75, and it started to snowball."

Beyond music, Claddagh Records did spoken-word, storytelling, poetry, every aspect of Irish culture in sound. "The Irish like to talk and like to play," says Moloney, an example of both likings. "So we had a huge fund of material."

From there, the Chieftains took Irish music around the world, and around again, forging connections with other native pop and folk musics, any and every expression of the human musical gift - flamenco, reggae, bluegrass, Galician, Breton, Mexican, Afro-Cuban, jazz, Chinese, spirituals - until it seems as if Irish music is all music. And, of course, vice versa.

"It seemed quite natural to sit down and make music with Chinese musicians," Moloney says. "They sing of the same things - love, the seasons, family. And they have this nasal form of singing you can hear in Argentine folk music, or you think of how Van Morrison sings 'Raglan Road.' You do this nasal singing down Connemara."

Many a musician has sat down as a Chieftain. On the track "The Chieftains [Reunion]," the retired members come together for an 11-minute jam session of Celtic Hiberniana (hear it at http://bit.ly/zMXhhZ). "There was a bit of nerves at the first," reports Moloney, "but once the stories started to fly, we pressed the record button. And that's how we made the entire CD, really." The deluxe edition of Voice of Ages features a festive DVD of the making of the "Reunion" track.

For the Philadelphia shows, the core band will be Moloney on pipes and tin whistle, Matt Molloy on flute, and Kevin Conneff on bodhrán and vocals. They'll be joined by a distinguished guest band: Jon Pilatzke on fiddle, Triona Marshall on harp and keyboards, bluegrass stalwart Jeff White on guitar and vocals, accomplished bluegrass fiddler Deanie Richardson, Scottish singer Alyth McCormack, and dancers Cara Butler and Nathan Pilatzke, joined at times by Jon.

The dancers reflect the worldwide craze for Irish dance, thanks to Riverdance. Butler ("We call her 'Legs,' " says Moloney) has danced with the band since 1992, and the Pilatzke brothers, "wild dancers from the Ottawa Valley," are among the world's foremost stepdancers.

Michael Flatley, the American creator of Riverdance? Yeah, he was a Chieftain for years.

"The dancers are about running away with the show these days," Moloney says.

Voice of Ages keeps the cross-pollination going, with guests such as indie-rock band Bon Iver, the rootsy Carolina Chocolate Drops, Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, the blazing acid-country Punch Brothers, and the country trio Pistol Annies, who furnish a rousing version of "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies."

"I give total credit to T Bone Burnett," says Moloney of this rather hip indie lineup. "He's the one who got on the phone for us and talked everyone into playing." Judging from the published comments of delight from Meloy, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and others, little twisting was done to few arms. Moloney sent every guest a couple of suggested tunes, and the thing was worked out in the studio. Burnett, as he seems to be on every second album you're liking, is producer.

"And do we love coming back to Philadelphia, and the Kimmel. Oh, goodness, the sound!" says Moloney. "I was on the board of directors for the new concert hall in Dublin, and I produced a copy of the plans of the Kimmel, and they were very impressed. Playing on that stage, it's astounding, seeing the people way up high, and the acoustics are incredible."

"Téann an bóthar gan stad," as the saying goes. "The road goes on without stop." The ultimate Irish road warrior, Moloney says, "I still have so much to do" - connecting, making new roots, new branches, whole new family trees of music.

"It's all one," says Paddy Moloney. "It all belongs."