The majority of singers come from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland with many of its members also drawn from all over the world. Their repertoire is written or arranged for the group by McGlynn, and includes reconstructions of Early and Medieval music from Ireland and beyond presented in a candle-lit, costumed ambiance that allows the group to connect with a very wide variety of audience despite the eclectic nature of the music they sing.
Anúna perform between twelve and fourteen singers, unconducted, in any performance. They are equally at home in an amplified theatrical setting or an unamplified concert hall.
Anúna created the vocal ambiance of Riverdance (1994-1996), achieved a Top 10 placing on the U.K. Singles Charts while remaining at Number 1 on the Irish singles charts for eighteen weeks. In 2012 they appeared as the "Voices of Hell" on the video game Diablo 3 [Blizzard] gaining a Game Audio Network Guild nomination for the Best Original Choral Performance in February 2013. In February 2018 the group won the Outstanding Ensemble category of the Annual Game Music Awards for their contributions to the soundtrack of the hugely successful video game Xenoblade Chronicles II. In February 2017 the group participated in an extraordinary collaboration with Noh Theatre entitled "Takahime", a Japanese adaptation of W.B. Yeats' play "At the Hawk's Well". The performance was directed by Gensho Umewaka (Japanese National Treasure) and Michael McGlynn, who also composed an original score.
While curating the Meltdown Festival at London's South Bank, Elvis Costello invited Anúna to perform as featured guests and in 2011 they featured on DVD and CD with the pioneering Australian children's entertainers The Wiggles. A number of Anúna singers have gone on to carve very successful careers as solo artists including singer-songwriter Hozier [2007 - 2012] and six of the lead soloists in the phenomenally successful Celtic Woman including Lynn Hilary and Éabha McMahon.
In complete contrast, as a classical choral ensemble Anúna have appeared at the World Sacred Music Festival in Morocco and at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, London. They have sung at many major classical venues including the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, De Doelen Rotterdam, Hyogo Performing Arts Center and Orchard Hall in Tokyo, New York Town Hall and Minneapolis Symphony Hall.
They have collaborated with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland on two major concerts of McGlynn's compositions at Dublin's National Concert Hall (2009 & 2010).
Anúna have an active and highly successful Education & Outreach programme that has been responsible for workshops across China, Japan, Spain, Belgium, Israel, Sweden, Canada, Poland, the UK and The Netherlands. In 2012 they presented at the Shanghai Conservatory. In 2015 the group presented an interest Session as part of the American Choral Directors Association National Conference at Salt Lake, Utah, USA. In 2019 their sixth highly successful annual ANÚNA International Summer School in Dublin, which attracts professional and amateur choral musicians from all over the world, will take place in Dublin preceded by the first ANÚNA Winter School in February in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Anúna have released eighteen albums since 1991 and have been featured artists on three Grammy Award-winning albums. Invocation (1994) won a National Entertainment Award for Classical music, while Deep Dead Blue (1996) was nominated for a Classical Brit Award. Celtic Origins (2007), also an award-winning PBS show and DVD, became the number one selling CD on the US World Music Charts that August while September 2011 saw their album Christmas Memories reaching the Hot 100 of the Billboard Album Chart. In 2008 the choir released Invocations of Ireland, McGlynn's self-made film, an evocative depiction of the Irish landscape and its relationship to his music. This has been broadcast extensively in Australia/New Zealand, with the DVD being released on Australia's DV1 and Columbia Music Entertainment in Japan.
They have been signed to some of the world's major record labels including Decca, Universal Classics, Polygram, E1 and Philips. Michael McGlynn's sheet music is available from www.michaelmcglynn.com.
The Wild Song
Anúna Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Singing sweet soul music to me
The ancient winds crying cold and flying free
Carry winter whispers through the trees
A soft voice murmurs a haunting melody
As it flows to the river from a stream
The gentle breeze carries youthful memory
I have come through the darkness
Touched the moon's new fallen dew
I have found there a place
Where the wild song echoes, echoes in my heart
There the dawn is wide with the scent of spring
With a red sun burning on the tide
In the hazel forest the blackbird sings
Of a secret place I keep inside
I have traveled far, I have made the road my home
But that music never will depart
I have walked the shoreline where seabirds cry alone
But a wild song echoes in my heart
I have come through the darkness
Touched the moon's new fallen dew
I have found there a place
Where the wild song echoes, echoes in my heart
Where the wild song echoes, echoes in my heart
The lyrics of Anuna's "The Wild Song" paint a vivid and emotive picture of a longing for a homecoming to a place that exists somewhere within the singer's heart. The opening stanza invokes the bird as a messenger, passing on messages through song from the mysterious and powerful forces of the natural world. The words that follow in the first verse capture the beauty and power of nature, with the imagery of the winds carrying winter whispers through the trees and the gentle voice of the breeze carrying youthful memory through the land. Here we see the connection between the natural world and the singer's internal world.
The second verse then deepens the singer's connection to the land and the homecoming they still seek. The line "I have come through the darkness" speaks to the trials and tribulations the singer has faced on their journey, and the idea of touching the moon's new fallen dew suggests they have experienced some kind of spiritual awakening. These images build towards the chorus where the singer proclaims discoveries they have made within themselves, spaces where the wild song echoes endlessly.
The final verse paints a portrait of a utopia within the singer's heart, where the dawn is wide with the scent of spring and the blackbird sings of a secret place kept within. In the closing lines, the singer acknowledges that while they have traveled far and wide, it is the "wild song echoes" that have kept them going and drawn them back to the place within them where they feel most at home. This song is ultimately a beautiful testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the ways in which we can find a sense of belonging within ourselves, even when we feel lost.
Line by Line Meaning
A pale bird flies over open sea
A light-colored bird is flying above the vast sea
Singing sweet soul music to me
This bird is singing a lovely, soulful tune to me
The ancient winds crying cold and flying free
The old winds are cold and unrestricted, crying out as they move along
Carry winter whispers through the trees
They bring with them quiet, wintry sounds that move through the trees
A soft voice murmurs a haunting melody
A gentle voice is singing a captivating, melancholic tune
As it flows to the river from a stream
As the voice drifts towards the river from the stream
The gentle breeze carries youthful memory
A tender breeze carries with it memories of youthfulness
Through the shaded valley of my dreams
Through the valley of my dreams, where it is dark and cool
I have come through the darkness
I have emerged from the unlit places
Touched the moon's new fallen dew
I have touched the dew that is on the moon's surface
I have found there a place
In that place, I have discovered a location
Where the wild song echoes, echoes in my heart
A song, uncontrolled and free, resonates in my heart
There the dawn is wide with the scent of spring
In this place, the scent of spring is in the air as the sun rises up on the horizon
With a red sun burning on the tide
An intense red sun fast approaching the sea
In the hazel forest the blackbird sings
The blackbird sings in the brownish-green forest
Of a secret place I keep inside
This song reminds me of a secret place I hold inside myself
I have traveled far, I have made the road my home
I have been to different places and made a home wherever there was a road
But that music never will depart
But this music will always stay in my soul
I have walked the shoreline where seabirds cry alone
I have walked the edge of an ocean in which only seabirds can be heard crying out
But a wild song echoes in my heart
Despite this desolate place, a wild song still beats in my heart
Where the wild song echoes, echoes in my heart
It is here, where the uncontrollable song goes on echoing inside me
Lyrics © Songtrust Ave
Written by: MICHAEL PHILIP MCGLYNN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@guabar
A pale bird flies over open sea
Singing sweet soul music to me
The ancient winds crying cold and flying free
Carry winter whispers through the trees
A soft voice murmers a haunting melody
As it flows to the river from a stream
The gentle breeze carries youthful memory
Through the shaded valley of my dreams
I have come through the darkness
Touched the moon's new fallen dew
I have found there a place
Where the wild song echoes, echoes in my heart
There the dawn is wide with the scent of spring
With a red sun burning on the tide
In the hazel forest the blackbird sings
Of a secret place I keep inside
I have travelled far, I have made the road my home
But that music never will depart
I have walked the shoreline where seabirds cry alone
But a wild song echoes in my heart
I have come through the darkness
Touched the moon's new fallen dew
I have found there a place
Where the wild song echoes, echoes in my heart
Where the wild song echoes, echoes in my heart
@gab.1318
Vim pela abe, que canção linda♥️😣 amo músicas assimmm
@claudinetolentino1128
Abe sabe o fala .q Que coisa linda essa música❤️
@christophersharp3105
My wife has passed. This music helps my troubled heart and soul.
@anunachoir
+Christopher Sharp terribly sorry to hear that Christopher.
@lawsonracing7164
Me too, and amen to that. 🤲
@lugenehaynes7584
I lost my husband. This—-this is the music that plays in the place where I go to meet him in my dreams.
@gambutasmaria4070
💙💚💛🧡❤💛🧡❤🤍
@richardcobey9415
@@anunachoir beautiful
@stefanhjertquiststeffesone2000
As a musician and musicteacher after 40 years I have to say that this song, the harmonising and the perfektionism of pitching the tones with grace and beauty is maybe the best I’ve ever heard🙏🌟🌺! The great talent of Lynn is incredible and McGlynn is an outstanding genius of this genre👍🙋♂️(Said from a former studiomusician from Sweden🇸🇪)
@anunachoir
You are very kind Stefan. The piece was written for Rajaton from Finland so it is Nordic in intent.