THE CHIEFTAINS & JIMMY RANKIN @ MASSEY HALL (TORONTO) - OCT. 2/07

The original traditional Irish folk band…
The Chieftains
with special guest Jimmy Rankin

Tuesday, October 2, 2007, at 8:00 pm / Massey Hall

Tickets: $69.50 - $45.50

Call 416-872-4255 or visit the Roy Thomson Hall Box Office - www.masseyhall.com

For Immediate Release, Toronto, ON - September 6, 2007

THE CHIEFTAINS is, without question, the world’s most popular Irish band. For more than four decades, they have been captivating audiences around the world with the many delights of traditional Irish music, with a style that is as exhilarating as it is definitive. They return to Massey Hall on Tuesday, October 2, 2007, at 8:00 pm., their first local appearance since their sold-out St. Patrick’s Day concert at Massey Hall on March 17, 2005.

The Chieftains was formed in 1962 by founder and front man Paddy Moloney, an uillean piper from Dublin. The group’s big breakthrough in America occurred when they provided the music for Stanley Kubrick’s 1975 movie, Barry Lyndon. The music score won an Oscar, and “Women of Ireland,” one track on the film, was played heavily on FM progressive rock stations, and even managed to get on the play lists of some Top 40 stations. Suddenly, the Chieftains were hot in America and a US tour and a series of television performances followed.

Their first concert as a full-time act was a sold-out show in 1975 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Up until that time, the members of the group had struggled to maintain their day jobs while playing music during off-hours.

The Chieftains’ unique musical texture features a variety of Irish instruments, including the bodhrán, uillean pipes, fiddle, tin whistle, flute and harp. Their endearing shows often include many surprises, jokes, stories, and step dancing. The Chieftains have performed on the Great Wall of China (the first Western group to do so), as the opening act during the Pope’s visit to Ireland in 1979 before a crowd of more than 1 million at Phoenix Park in Dublin, and at Roger Waters’ “The Wall” concert in Berlin in 1990. The group has also stretched its musical boundaries by collaborating with some of the biggest names in classical, rock, pop and traditional music. In 1988 they joined forces with fellow countryman Van Morrison on “Irish Heartbeat,” and have subsequently recorded albums with James Galway, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, The Rolling Stones, Sting, Tom Jones, Sinead O’Connor, Linda Ronstadt, Los Lobos, Ry Cooder and many others.

The Chieftains have received a wealth of awards and tributes. They have been honoured in their own country by being officially named “Ireland’s Musical Ambassadors.” Their music for the Canadian film, The Grey Fox, won them a Genie Award, and their soundtrack for the documentary, The Long Journey Home: The Irish in America, won an Emmy. They have released more than 40 albums, won six Grammy Awards (among 18 Grammy nominations), have had five #1 Billboard Top World Music Albums, and in 2002 received a Lifetime Achievement Award from BBC Radio 2.

For more information, please visit http://www.thechieftains.com/

JIMMY RANKIN, guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and member of the popular Cape Breton group, The Rankin Family, recently released his third solo album, Edge of Day. In addition to the Massey Hall date, he also performs with The Chieftains as their special guest soloist for concerts in two other Ontario cities, London and Ottawa. The Rankin Family headlined two shows at Massey Hall in February 2007 as part of a 22-city cross-Canada tour, their first tour in eight years. For more information visit http://www.jimmyrankin.com/

This concert is presented by RBI.

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MEDIA CONTACTS:

For interviews, please email Rob Bennett at: rob.bennett@sympatico.ca

Liz Parker, Publicity Manager / Ph: 416 593 4822, Ext. 318 / email: liz.parker@rth-mh.com
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