"More than twenty years ago my dear friend Polig Monjarret introduced me to the wonderful music of Galicia, a green and hilly region in the northwest corner Spain. With an economy historically based on fishing and farming, it has traditionally been one of the poorest regions in Europe. Galicians speak their own language (closer to Portugese than Spanish). The culture, particularly the music, has more in common with those of Brittany, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland than Castille or Andalusia. Galicia was once described as 'the world's undiscovered Celtic country.'
In 1984, in the seaport of Vigo, I performed at an outdoor festival hosted by the Galician band Milladoiro. It was here that I was introduced to a quiet and polite lad by the name of Carlos Nunez. A few years later a young and gifted Galician piper played for us during our visit to the traditional music Conservatoire of Ploemeur in Brittany. To my surprise and delight, he turned out to be the very same lad...Carlos joined us on stages around the world, thrilling audiences with his unrivalled skill on recorder and Gaita (Galician bagpipes). At times he could have been considered a 7th member of The Chieftains. We recorded as we travelled, deriving inspiration for our musical movements from the places we visited along the traditional pilgrims route to the enchanted cathedral of Santiago de Compostela...Transcending its own mysterious origins the Pilgrimage continues to draw countless thousands from around the world to this faraway land...other countries with music steeped in the richness of Galician tradition tempted us to continue the pilgrimage. Unfortunately, for now, time and schedules have put an end to our travels. Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, all will have to wait for another time, another project, another journey back to Santiago."
-Paddy Moloney July, 1996
Santiago is a great collection of Spanish/Celtic music. The Chieftains, along with good friend Carlos Nunez, shine like stars on this album. It's all very lively music and any Chieftains lover will enjoy this music! One of the most enjoyable songs is Dueling Chanters. It features Paddy Moloney on the Uillean Pipes and Carlos Nunez on Galician Pipes. It's a very enjoyable song. (An amusing thing about this song is at the concert Sean Keane had to be a "chanter" on his fiddle when they played this song because of course there were no bagpipes! I admit it sounded rather strange but they pulled it off nicely!)
Track List
The Chieftains