I was browsing through the butter and cheese aisle at our local supermarket, looking for cheddar cheese for our family’s pita bread dinner night.
There were many types of cheeses on display at the chiller section, so many to choose from, but my eyes stopped on a block of Glenstal mature Irish cheddar. I’ll try this, I thought to myself, and made up my mind quickly, grabbed it, and put it into my shopping basket. The husband didnt object to it, so off we went and completed our weekly shopping.
Later that week, I thought back to that night and my decision-making. I mean the cheese tasted great, but probably so would have its competitors, but I had made too swift a decision without considering the rest.
It dawned on me that I had a preference for it due to it being Irish.
I then remembered my abnormal fondness for Irish things.
I mean, I’m a Chinese girl living in Malaysia. I was as far from Ireland and its culture as anyone can get. So why on earth did I like this country and its culture?
Growing up, I had watched Riverdance when I was a kid, and yes I had watched movies with leprechauns, and some with St Patrick’s Day themes. But the biggest and main influence was from music, a band from Ireland that consisted of four siblings who wrote, played, and sang their own songs.
Andrea, Sharon, Caroline, and Jim Corr. The Corrs.
By now, you would have guessed I grew up in the nineties and early 2000s. It was after my parents installed our version of cable television here in Malaysia that I started watching MTV, a popular music music channel in television, and from there I was introduced to many western music.
Amid the myriad of music and videos broadcast on MTV and on the radio waves, one band stood out the most for the then 11-year-old me, and it was an Irish band called The Corrs.
I was enthralled by their music, the Irish instruments they used be it the thin whistle, violin or the bodhrán drums. The band consisted of four siblings, three sisters and their older brother, and their voices were delightful. They sang and played their own songs, and even had a series of instrumental music that was mostly Irish-themed folk songs, such as like Toss the Feathers or Haste to the Wedding.
I bought their original tape cassette in 1998 from their second album Talk On Corners, and I continued listening to them all through my high school years. They were popular in Asia, and even in Malaysia where I lived, and I found some common friends in school here who also enjoyed their sound.
Even when I got married, I selected their rendition of the Irish folk song ‘Lough Erin Shore’ for our wedding walk-in, and even after we were pronounced man and wife, I chose another instrumental song from them entitled ‘Haste to the wedding’ for our recessional walk-out.
So that was it, it’s been over 20 years since I discovered and enjoyed this band, and now I am finding that my interest and liking for my favourite band from my childhood still shows up even up to today, in the strangest ways.
So in a way, it seemed that this band had in some way influenced not only the popularity of Irish music and culture, and even their products worldwide.
What an unsual outcome of just their music alone.