Santiago

More than twenty years ago Paddy was introduced to the wonderful music of Galicia by his friend Polig Monjarret. Galicia is a green and hilly region in the northwest corner of Spain, one of the poorest regions in Europe. Galicians speak their own language, and the culture, particularly the music, has more in common with those of Brittany, Wales, Scotland and Ireland than Castille or Andalusia, and was once described as ‘the world’s most undiscovered Celtic country.’

Through the years, after some memorable performances – glorious meetings of musical styles and traditions – with such artists as Galician band Milladoiro and Carlos Nunez, Paddy began to develop a project to recreate and expand on the on stage experience. They were joined onstage in different venues throughout the world by Carlos, recording as they went, sampling the many moods and musical styles of the surrounding cultures, from Breton to Basque, from Asturian to Portuguese and beyond. The Chieftains are also joined by Linda Ronstadt, Los Lobos and Eliot Fisk on this album.

Paddy wrote a special piece ‘Galician Overture’ that was originally intended to be 1 minute, but ended up being 7/8 minutes long, and is now a highlight of orchestral preformances. Cuba has a very close relationship with Galicia and the Chieftains spent 2 weeks researching and putting a group of singers and musicians together. They brought Ry Cooder as a featured guest and a number of these singers and musicians became part of Ry’s Buena Vista Social Club, eg Omara Portuondo, Doc Made.

“Santiago’ won a Grammy award for ‘Best World Music’ in 1997.