Irish wedding
 

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I posted a 15-minute of this a while back, but here's the hopefully more polished highlights version. Any comments/criticism of course very welcome.

One general question -- so, the groom's side is Irish, but he's now living in Australia. Now, I've been told that there's a word "Oirish" some Irish people use, meaning something like stereotypically or gauchely Irish. Well, it does worry me that the video is Oirish, particularly because the music seems Celtic-themed. What do you think...? I know that if someone made a video for me and played Chinese music, that would seem weird, reductive, stereotyping to me -- I don't listen to Asian music of any kind, don't even speak any Chinese dialect.

Re: Irish wedding
 

Hey Adrian

I have always based on your surname that you are of Asian descent (Are you?) and yet you don't like Asian music. I think you answered your own question ! Some cultures are very proud of their heritage, especially the music and Irish people more often than not love their traditional music. Sure it would make our live easy when filming a Scottish wedding to assuming that a Scottish reel would be suitable music but sadly it's not the case and you already said it yourself. It's purely a matter of what the couple want... some people will move to a new country and soak in all the cultures and almost abandon their birth cultures and some will be totally the opposite and bring and nurture all the things that remind them of "home"

UK people in Aus are often like this and will refer to home as the UK despite the fact they have lived here for 35 years!!

Chris

Re: Irish wedding
 

I'm sort of ashamed of people like that Chris. It seems that too many British still have the old colonial outlook. That's why if asked I say I'm English.

We considered retiring to Cyprus, but ex-pats there seem to like to live in ghettos and stay British abroad, rather than becoming honorary Cypriots, learning the language etc. It's one of the reasons we didn't go!

I always thought "Oirish" was just the way some Irish pronounced the word!

Dave

Re: Irish wedding
 

I thought it was great and the music worked very well. Your question was a good one though as different cultures place different values on these kind of things and there can be big differences between generations. I know quite a few Irish and they all seem to like traditional music on occasion but they often like rock. indy or whatever better. I'm Scottish and I wouldn't want any old style Scottish music but then the majority of Scotland is urban and modern. If you were to choose modern Scottish groups like Mogwai, The Beta Band, or even some classic Jack Bruce or Donovan, then you're cooking!

Re: Irish wedding
 

to me the word "Oirish" equates to anything fake Irish, like a third generation (insert country here) coming to Ireland and festooned with shamrock badges clutching a shillelagh and greeting everyone with "Top 'O' the mornin to ya" sort of thing and trying to get the word' leprechauns' into a sentence. People here call them Plastic Paddys, some people have adopted an accent which some Irish would refer to as Oirish it sounds just pure fake!

Theres a difference between Celtic and Traditional Irish music, Traditional Irish music can be a bit mournful at times as a lot of it comes from the period of famine and emigration during the mid 1880's

anyway the clip is grand and the music suited it, I wouldn't think that the music was Oirish at all, more folk with some modern trad Irish undertones.
Most Irish couples here ask for mainstream modern popular music for their weddings, there are some will have some traditional stuff during church ceremonies.

well done

Re: Irish wedding
 

Must be what I've heard then. I know there are many regional Irish accents but I wasn't sure whether the "Oirish" was genuine or not. Obviously not. What an education one can get here!

Dave

Re: Irish wedding
 

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

Chris, yes, I'm of Asian descent. Born in Australia though, and don't speak any other language than English (though I can read some Latin and ancient Greek).

Rob, you've inspired me to look more into Irish music. Thanks very much for your knowledgeable reply.