Brett Marston posts on the Kelly Family; a very horrible phenomenon that is thankfully confined (mostly) to Germany and immediate environs. Think Osmonds. Think Irish-American Osmonds. Think Irish-American Osmonds with twee little bits nicked from Riverdance and every ghastly diddley-iddely faux-Celtic showband that ever plagued the Val Doonican show. The Kelly Family did a big show in Ireland a few years back; it was a miserable flop. We have enough Cultic Tweelight of our own, and no need for the ersatz Continental variety, thank you very much. The Germans lap it up of course, but they have very odd taste in popular music. Bands that the outside world has forgotten twenty years ago (New Model Army, anyone?) subsist in a sort of twilight netherworld of tours through German provincial cities, where they sell out concert halls to legions of fans with odd hair cuts. What makes this grim devotion to the outer fringes of schmaltzpop, goth and schlager songs even more bizarre, is that it coexists with a thriving, inventive electronic music scene, which is as up to date as anywhere else that you’d care to name. Check out the scenes in Cologne and Berlin in particular (I recommend Liquid Sky in Cologne to visitors).
Update: Brett responds; while Mrs. Tilton has further thoughts on Oirishry abroad.
Posted by Henry at April 16, 2003 11:23 AM | TrackBack