Paddy Moloney has never let grass grow under his feet. He has traveled around the globe and back with the Chieftains, maintaining a pace that would wither a man many decades younger.

So, why should Christmas be any different? "I can smell the Christmas goose cooking in the next room," he exclaims dreamily during our brief chat over the weekend. "We're having Christmas early with my sister and her family because I am off to Galicia to do some shows. I hear some royalty will be there, so that's always fun."

In between, Moloney has been overseeing a BBC documentary on the Chieftains, which features adoring interviews with the likes of Keith Richards, Sting, Elvis Costello and Andrea Corr.

There's so much to talk about with this legend that it's easy to forget that the publicist has arranged this chat to promote the soundtrack to the film The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep. Composed by James Newton Howard, the soundtrack accompanies a Celtic infused family film that is generating a lot of steam ahead of its release on Christmas Day.

"It's a lovely story with some gorgeous animation," Moloney says. "It's the story of a boy from Scotland who finds an egg and nurses this creature in the bathtub until the mammy shoos the boy off and this baby develops into this wonderful sea creature that becomes the Loch Ness Monster. It's a touching story and I am very proud to be associated with such a great family film."

Moloney, who seems to know everyone who is anyone in the music business, happened upon Newton Howard during a pre-Oscars party honoring Irish achievements in film.

"I went there to party with my old pal, Van Morrison, who was being honored there," he explains. "James got to talking about this film and I went over to see him because he wanted to see what I thought of the music. He put up a scene and I whipped out a tin whistle. 'Perhaps it needs a bit of this?' I said to him. From there, we began collaborating."

Moloney joined the band with a harp orchestra in Abbey Road Studios, where they met up with the London Symphony Orchestra. In that famed studio, the musicians created a Celtic symphony of lush music that couches Moloney's emotive flute.

"There is a similarity," he says, when asked if writing a Chieftains album is any different from writing for films.

"I have a vision for all these things. I love to see the rushes and see the script, and I write down what I think might work as I am reading it. You have to be careful not to overpower the scene and overwhelm the audience.

"You are timed to the second and you have to get the right feel in this limited timeframe. You do get to paint in the colors of music, which is a lot of fun.

Unlike most soundtracks, which are quaint background music, the sounds on The Water Horse are brimming with personality.

"The Water Horse Suite" is a mash-up of pensive flute solos interspersed within joyful reels. It is impossible to erase the melodies from your head, which is part of Moloney's plan.

"Even though the film is the main attraction, you have to create a sound that stands on its own," Moloney opines. "I am a stickler for melody. There has to be a tune."

Moloney is so pleased with the soundtrack that he is hoping to add some pieces into the Chieftains' touring repertoire.

"I've asked James to adjust some of the pieces so I can play it with symphonies, and I have played with the likes of the Belfast Symphony," he says. "It's amazing music and gives me a thrill when I play it."

There seems to be this great divide between traditional purists and the crowd that plays fast and loose with our culture's melodies. The Chieftains play on either side of the fence like no one else.

"Chitose is a 23 year old Japanese singer and her traditional kind of music is so near to our sean nos singing," he explains when asked what his band is up to lately.

"I chose some traditional Irish tunes and she was perfect. She gave me a traditional Japanese song and I injected some reels into it. We went on tour in Japan with her and it was absolutely brilliant."

Moloney sheds many decades when he begins talking about the future of the Chieftains.

"The world is getting to be a smaller place with technologies, and I am reaching out to different corners of the world with music," he says. "We were always all over the world playing our music.

"You have an O'Reilly's Bar in the middle of Havana. I want to go to these places and link up with the music and get connected with the Irish influences or similarities in the different cultures."