Irish internet singing sensations, Crystal Swing, had their first high-profile US television exposure last night when they appeared on the widely-watched Ellen DeGeneres show.
The family trio of Mary Murray-Burke and her children Dervla and Derek performed two songs and were interviewed by the host of the show.
From Midleton, Co Cork, Crystal Swing rose to prominence earlier this year when a video of them performing a cover version of the song He Drinks Tequila became one of the most watched and most discussed items on YouTube.
DeGeneres, a well-known US comedian turned chat show host, featured the video on her show last month and expressed how much she wanted the group to travel to Los Angeles to appear live.
On last night’s show, Mary Murray-Burke presented DeGeneres with a bottle of Jameson Irish whiskey which she said “was crafted in our local town of Midleton”.
The group then performed a well-received rendition of He Drinks Tequila followed by Derek doing a performance of his now signature song, The Hucklebuck.
Although not as well known as the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Ellen DeGeneres programme represents important media exposure for the band. It is perhaps best known for having Barack Obama demonstrate his dance moves shortly before he was elected.
The YouTube video of their spot on the show attracted the same type of comments that the original He Drinks Tequila clip.
Writing on the site, many Irish people expressed their “embarrassment” and “mortification” that the old-style showbiz style of Crystal Swing was being held up as representative of the country’s musical output.
However, amid the negative reactions came a counter argument suggesting the band were far less an embarrassing than the cohort of builders, politicians and regulators who have left Ireland in a financial mess.
