Eithne Pdraign N Bhraonin (born 17 May 1961) known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish composer and singer-songwriter. Enya is the best-selling Irish solo artist, with an estimated 80 million albums sold worldwide,[1] and the second-best-selling music act from Ireland overall, after the rock band U2. Her music has been widely recognised for featuring multi-layers of her own vocals and instrumentation, lengthened reverb, and interwoven elements of Celtic music. The longevity and the atypical yet successful nature of Enya's career in music are notable; she has been composing her own repertoire for over four decades.[2]
Enya was raised in the Irish-speaking region of Gweedore. In 1980, Enya (as Eithne N Bhraonin) began her musical career playing alongside her family's Irish folk band Clannad. She left Clannad in 1982 to pursue a solo career, working with the former Clannad manager and producer, Nicky Ryan, and his partner Roma, as their lyricist. Over the following four years, Enya further developed her sound by combining multitracked vocals and keyboards with elements from a variety of musical genres such as Celtic, classical, church, jazz, ambient, world, hip-hop[3] and Irish folk.
Dj Mix Enya Songs Mp3 Download
Download Zip 🔥 https://ssurll.com/2yGc3a 🔥
Regarding a new album, there have been several mentions by close sources of Enya, particularly her siblings, about Enya recording new music since her 2015 album. According to her sister Moya, Enya was recording music as of 2019.[5] Enya's latest statement in-print was from the vinyl release of A Box of Dreams in June 2023. It read in Irish: "Beidh muid ag teacht le chile gan mhoile", which is approximated as "we will meet again soon".[6]
Gweedore is a Gaeltacht region, where the Irish language, which Enya and family refer to as Gaelic, is primarily spoken. Eithne Pdraign N Bhraonin, her name, is anglicised as Enya Patricia Brennan,[14] with "Enya" being the phonetic spelling of how "Eithne" is pronounced in the Donegal Ulster dialect. "N Bhraonin" translates to "daughter of Brennan".[15]
The name Brennan was accidentally added to Leo's name at his birth registration in 1925; his family name was Hardin; Leo used Brennan (Bhraonin) for his children's surname. Harry Hardin was a pianist, and he died performing on stage. Enya's paternal grandmother, Minna Lenehan, played the drums. They were both believed to have been born in England. Regarding Baba's parents, Enya's maternal grandfather, Aodh, affectionately addressed as "Gog", was the headmaster of the primary school in Dore; her grandmother, Mire Gillespie, was a teacher. Aodh was also the founder of the Aisteoiri Ghaodobhair, the Gweedore Theatre company.[16][17]
At three-and-a-half years of age, Enya took part in her first singing competition at the annual Feis Ceoil music festival.[17] She also participated in pantomimes at Gweedore Theatre and sang with her siblings in their mother's choir at St Mary's church in Derrybeg. At the age of four, Enya began piano lessons and was learning English throughout primary school. She later said, "I had to do school work and then travel to a neighbouring town for piano lessons, and then more school work. I remember my brothers and sisters playing outside and I would be inside playing the piano, this one big book of scales, practising them over and over."[15][21]
As well as traditional Irish music, Enya and her siblings were introduced to a variety of music in the 1960s and 70s, and enjoyed watching musical films. In a radio interview with Elaine Page in November 2008, Enya shared a selection of favourite songs from musicals. She said of Jesus Christ Superstar, "it was such an original piece of music in 1970 [...] played in my house every single day, and myself and my sisters would sing word for word".[22]
From the age of 11, Enya attended a convent boarding school in Milford, Milford College,[17] [23] run by the Sisters of Loreto;[24] Enya's education there was paid for by her grandfather.[11][10] The boarding school, now Loreto Community School, was where Enya developed a taste for classical music, art, Latin, and watercolour painting.[10] She said, "It was devastating to be torn away from such a large family but it was good for my music."[15] Enya finished boarding school at age 17 in the late 1970s, and she spent a year at college studying classical music. She previously saw herself as teaching the piano, like both her mother and grandmother, rather than composing and performing her own music.[15]
In 1970, several members of Enya's family formed Clannad, a Celtic folk band.[25][26] Clannad hired Nicky Ryan as their manager, sound engineer, and producer, and Ryan's future wife, Roma Shane, as tour manager and administrator.[23][27] In 1980, after a year at college, Enya decided not to pursue a music degree and instead accepted Ryan's invitation to join Clannad, having wanted to expand their sound with keyboards and an additional vocalist.[23][28] Enya performed an uncredited role on their sixth studio album, Crann ll (1980), with a line-up of elder siblings Moya, Pl, and Ciarn Brennan, and twin uncles Noel and Pdraig Duggan. She features in their follow-up, Fuaim (1981), singing the song "An Tll" (The Apple).[10]Ciarn mentioned that Enya was a "hired hand" and not a full member, commenting that "she was 18, 19 and we were paying her 500 sterling a week."[29] In a BBC Radio Ulster interview with Moya in late 2023, she also noted that Enya was considered a hired hand with Clannad.[30] Nicky Ryan said it was not his intention to make Enya a permanent member, as she was "fiercely independent [...] intent on playing her own music. She was just not sure of how to go about it."[23] Nicky discussed the idea of layering vocals to create a "choir of one" with Enya, a concept inspired by Phil Spector's Wall of Sound technique that had interested them both.[23]
During a Clannad tour in 1982, Nicky called for a band meeting to address internal issues that had arisen, which he put down to the excessive drinking of one or two members.[19] He recalled: "It was short and only required a vote, I was a minority of one and lost. Roma and I were out. This left the question of what happened with Enya. I decided to stand back and say nothing."[23] Enya chose to leave with the Ryans and pursue a solo career, having felt confined in the group and disliking being "somebody in the background". In an extended interview from 1989, Enya said that "I wasn't composing it [the music], I was just there, you know."[31] The split caused some friction between the parties but, in time, they settled their differences.[27] Enya's brother Ciarn also spoke to Nicky Ryan around 2006, interested in recording in their studio with her, but Ryan suggested that this was unlikely to occur.[29] Moya often praises Enya for what she has gone on to achieve in her solo career, and supposes that there were some musical foundations that Enya had built from her short time with the band.[30]
Nicky suggested to Enya that either she return to Gweedore "with no particular definite future", or live with him and Roma in suburban Artane, in Dublin, "and see what happens, musically", which Enya decided to try.[32] After their bank denied them a loan, Enya sold her saxophone and gave piano lessons as a source of income. Nicky Ryan used what they could afford to build a recording facility in the Ryans' garden shed, which they named "Aigle Studio", after the French word for eagle.[28][23] Enya lived with the Ryans from 1982, shortly after leaving Clannad, until 1989, when she bought a penthouse apartment in Killiney.[33][34]
Enya and the Ryans rented Aigle Studio out to other musicians to help recoup the costs.[35][36] The trio formed a musical and business partnership, with Nicky as Enya's producer and arranger and Roma as her lyricist.[27] They called their company, of which each owns a third, Aigle Music.[37] In the following two years, Enya developed her technique and composition by listening to recordings of her reciting pieces of classical music and repeated this process until she started to improvise sections and develop her own arrangements.[38]
In the early 1980s following her Clannad departure, Enya recorded with a few artists, often on keyboards or backing vocals, with Nicky Ryan as producer. She also played the synthesiser on the group Ragairne's Ceol Aduaidh, led by Mairad N Mhaonaigh and Frankie Kennedy.[39] Being one of the earlier choices to sing the song before Maggie Reilly, Enya declined an offer from Mike Oldfield to sing on his single "Moonlight Shadow", likely due to existing contracts.[40][41] "Bailieboro and Me" is a Charlie McGettigan song with the group Jargon; an early recording[42] features Enya singing backing vocals, primarily credited as Eithne N Bhraonin playing the grand piano for the song.[43]
Enya's first solo endeavour was in 1982, when she composed and later released two piano instrumentals, "An Ghaoth n Ghrian" (Irish for "The Solar Wind") and "Miss Clare Remembers". Both were recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin and released on Touch Travel (1984), a limited-release cassette compilation of music from various artists on the UK Touch label. She is credited as Eithne N Bhraonin in the liner notes.[44]
After several months of preparation, Enya's first live solo performance took place at the National Stadium in Dublin on 23 September 1983, and was televised for RT's music show Festival Folk.[45] Niall Morris, a musician who worked with her during this time, recalled she "was so nervous she could barely get on stage, and she cowered behind the piano until the gig was over".[46] Morris assisted Enya in the production of a demo tape, adding additional keyboards to her compositions.[46][47]
Roma thought the music would suit accompanying visuals and sent it to various film producers. Among them was David Puttnam, after Roma had read an interview where he stated a particular interest in strong melodies.[48] Puttnam liked the tape and offered Enya to compose the soundtrack to his upcoming romantic comedy film, The Frog Prince (1984).[32] Enya scored nine pieces for the film; later, against her wishes, the pieces were rearranged and orchestrated by Richard Myhill, except for two pieces in which she sang, "The Frog Prince" and "Dreams". The words to "Dreams" were penned by Charlie McGettigan.[49] The film editor Jim Clark said the rearrangements were necessary as Enya found it difficult to compose to the picture.[50] 152ee80cbc