Enya

Enya (born 17 May 1961), birth name Eithne Ní Bhraonáin (sometimes seen as the Anglicized Enya Brennan), is Ireland's best-selling solo musician. As a musical group, Enya is really three people: Enya herself, who composes and performs the music; Nicky Ryan, who produces the records; and Roma Ryan, who writes the lyrics in various languages. Enya is a phonetic approximation of how Eithne is pronounced in her native Irish.

Music

A number of Enya's songs are sung entirely in Irish or Latin, with others containing the hitherto-mentioned mixed with English or English by itself. Roma Ryan has written lyrics in Welsh, Irish, Latin, Spanish, and even languages created by J. R. R. Tolkien.

Related Topics:
Irish - Latin - English - Welsh - Spanish - Languages created by J. R. R. Tolkien

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Last year, she recorded a song set to words from a Japanese poem for Panasonic. It is called Sumiregusa (Wild Violet).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Enya has performed songs relating to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, including 1991's "Lothlórien" (instrumental) and 2001's "May It Be" (sung in English and Quenya) and "Aníron" (in Sindarin)—the last two appearing on the soundtrack of Peter Jackson's movie '. "May It Be" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song at the 2002 ceremonies, but it lost to Randy Newman's "If I Didn't Have You" from Monsters, Inc.

Related Topics:
J. R. R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings - 1991 - 2001 - Quenya - Sindarin - Peter Jackson - Movie - Academy Award - Randy Newman - Monsters, Inc.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Enya has given several live performances on various television shows, events and ceremonies (her most recent appearance was at a tribute to the Brennan family which took place in Letterkenny), but she has yet to do a concert. She has said, though, that she would love to do it some day, and considers it to be a great possible challenge.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Discography

Albums

• Enya (1987)
• Two versions of this album were released. When reissued by Warner Music under the title The Celts, the original-release track entitled "Portrait" was replaced with an identical -- but longer -- piece of music entitled "Portrait (Out of the Blue)."
• Watermark (1988)
• Some versions of this album include an extra track, "Storms in Africa II."
• Shepherd Moons (1991, won 1992 Grammy for "Best New Age Album")
• There are at least two versions of Shepherd Moons. The first release featured a chant version of the song "Book of Days." An English-language version of this song was subsequently used in the soundtrack of the movie Far and Away. Coinciding with that all pressings of the album -- as well as singles and collections -- from mid-1992 on include the English-language version in lieu of the original.
• The Celts (1992) (remastered rerelease of the 1987 album Enya)
• The Memory of Trees (1995, won 1996 Grammy for "Best New Age Album")
• Paint The Sky With Stars (1997) (greatest hits collection with two new tracks)
• A Day Without Rain (2000, won 2001 Grammy for "Best New Age Album")
• Three versions of A Day Without Rain were released. Aside from the general release in the US and UK, the Canadian release included an additional track, while the Japanese one had two additional tracks.
• Amarantine (2005). Release date November 22, 2005 according to Aigle Music, Enya's personal music company in Ireland.

In addition, a 1985 soundtrack album for The Frog Prince (a.k.a. French Lesson) contains music composed by Enya, but not performed by her; a later CD release (1995) added two previously unreleased vocal tracks by her.

Related Topics:
1985 - The Frog Prince - CD

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Singles

Over the years, Enya has released a large number of CD singles, many of which included bonus tracks that were not included on any of the albums:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• "I Want Tomorrow" (1987)
• "Evening Falls..." (1988)
• "Orinoco Flow" (1988)
• "Storms In Africa" (1989)
• "6 Tracks" (1989)
• "Oíche Chiún (Silent Night)" (1989)
• "3 Tracks EP" (1990)
• "Exile" (1991)
• "Caribbean Blue" (1991)
• "How Can I Keep From Singing?" (1991)
• "Book Of Days" (1992)
• "The Celts" (1992)
• "Marble Halls" (1994)
• "The Christmas EP" (1994)
• "Anywhere Is" (1995)
• "On My Way Home" (1996)
• "Only If..." (1997)
• "Only Time" (2000)
• "Wild Child" (2001)
• "Only Time (Remix)" (2001)
• "May It Be" (2002)
• "Amarantine" (2005) (Single will be released in mid-november)

It is a common misconception that Enya recorded the song "Adiemus". This is false, as it was recorded by musicians of the same name. This song is often distributed through file sharing networks with this erroneous information. Similarly, recordings by Loreena McKennitt, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Moya Brennan (her sister) have also often been mistakenly identified as Enya recordings (particularly those Sissel recorded for the Enya-like soundtrack to Titanic). Similarly the artist Ronan Hardiman's album 'Solas' (Hardiman also responsible for the 'Riverdance' Soundtrack) has used similar vocal recording techniques as Enya, and has often been mistaken for her also.

Related Topics:
Same name - File sharing - Loreena McKennitt - Sissel Kyrkjebø - Moya Brennan

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~