CHIEFTAINS REMAIN TRUE TO THEIR IRISH ROOTS

For a bunch of fun-loving Irishmen who simply love to play music, the Chieftains have become rather big business.

Recent credits include award-winning film and television scores, best-selling records and a ground-breaking tour of China immortalized in film and on disc.

On Saturday in Pasadena, the group begins a 36-state American tour--its most ambitious to date.

Currently in the planning stages are two film sound tracks, a six-part BBC documentary on the group’s history and a revival of the National Ballet Company of Ireland’s production of “Playboy of the Western World,” with musical accompaniment by the group.

Which means that Paddy Moloney, the sextet’s 46-year-old founder, director, piper and (quoting flutist Matt Malloy) “Mammie” is one busy man these days.

“Let’s just say I don’t go out looking for work,” he says, sipping a cup of tea in his Beverly Hills hotel and fighting off the effects of a 14-hour flight from the British Isles.

Switching the conversation from one group project to another--and often getting lost in the process--Moloney finally feels obliged to answer those critics who chide the Chieftains’ diversification.

“Ireland is a nation of knockers. Sure, they knock us. That means we must be doing something right.” A toothy smile appears only briefly. “Look, through our 21 years together, we have stuck to our roots,” he says with obvious pride. “We always will be a traditional Irish band.” Those last three words receive individual emphasis.

While keen on promoting his latest compositional forays into film, the diminutive Irishman continually returns to a simple motto: “We’re in it for the love of music.”

Judging from the span of the Chieftains’ program Saturday at Caltech and Sunday at El Camino College, that love seems boundless. In addition to the standard fare of jigs, reels and ballads, the group will be accompanied by a 26-piece orchestra in excerpts from Moloney’s scores to the 1978 film “Tristan and Isolde,” the Irish TV series “The Year of the French” and the upcoming National Geographic special (due on PBS March 6) “Ballad of the Irish Horse.” Also joining Moloney and band for some cross-cultural jamming will be Chinese musician Chen-Shi Chuan.

The animated Irishman can barely keep his seat as he recounts the joyful tour of China the group made in April, 1983. “Folk music is great for cutting barriers,” he exclaims. “We always try to make contact with music and musicians wherever we go.

“When we finally got to China, after four years of delicate negotiations, the officials proceeded to take us on tours of music conservatories. But we wanted to be brought out into the country.”

Finally, they got their wish. “There were 14 of us gathered in the small kitchen of this home,” Moloney recalls. “The Chinese played us a tune, and it was like you were in Connemara.”

Part of the Chieftains’ concert repertory now is a very Irish-sounding Chinese tune, “Full of Joy.”

Moloney seems unwilling to slow down his campaign on behalf of Irish music: Plans are being made for visits to Egypt and Argentina. “I still have great ambitions for the future,” he says, adding that those plans do not include leaving or dissolving the group.

“This team is going well. There’s a lot of enjoyment. Besides,” he confesses, “I get uneasy if I’m not playing.”