Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin (born May 17, 1961 in Gaoth Dobhair, County Do… Read Full Bio ↴Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin (born May 17, 1961 in Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal, Ireland), known simply as Enya, is a Grammy award winning and Academy award nominated Irish singer, instrumentalist and composer. She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad, before leaving to pursue her solo career. Her album Watermark, which was released in 1988, propelled her to international recognition and she became known for her unique sound, which is characterized by voice-layering, folk melodies, synthesized backdrops and ethereal reverberations. Since then she has released a further nine albums, sold over 75 million albums worldwide and is known for performing in 10 different languages. Enya's vocal range is mezzo-soprano.
Enya was born into a musical family. Her father, Leo Brennan, was the leader of the Slieve Foy Band, a popular Irish show band; her mother was an amateur musician. Most important to Enya's career were her siblings, who formed Clannad in 1976 with several of their uncles. Enya joined the band as a keyboardist in 1979, and contributed to several of the group's popular television soundtracks. In 1982, she left Clannad, claiming that she was uninterested in following the pop direction the group had begun to pursue. Within a few years she was commissioned, along with producer/arranger Nicky Ryan and lyricist Roma Ryan, to provide the score for a BBC-TV series called The Celts. The soundtrack was released in 1986 as her eponymous solo album.
Enya didn't receive much notice, but Enya and the Ryans' second effort, Watermark, became a surprise hit upon its release in 1988. "Orinoco Flow," the first single, became a number one hit in Britain, helping the album eventually sell eight million copies worldwide. Enya spent the years following the success of Watermark rather quietly; her most notable appearance was a cameo on Sinéad O'Connor's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. She finally released Shepherd Moons, her follow-up to Watermark, in 1991. Shepherd Moons was even more successful than its predecessor, eventually selling over ten million copies worldwide; it entered the U.S. charts at number 17 and remained in the Top 200 for almost four years.
Again, Enya was slow to follow up on the success of Shepherd Moons, spending nearly four years working on her fourth album. The record, entitled Memory of Trees, was released in December of 1995. Memory of Trees entered the U.S. charts at number nine and sold over two million copies within its first year of release. In 1997 came the release of a greatest-hits collection, Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya, which featured two new songs. Enya's first album of new material in five years, A Day Without Rain, was released in late 2000. In 2001, she contributed material to the first film in Peter Jackson's award-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy, scoring a hit with the single "May It Be." Amarantine, her first full-length recording since Day Without Rain, followed in November of 2005, and has so far sold nearly five million copies.
(Much of the above content of this biography has been taken from http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0ifoxqe5ldhe~T1.)
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, her song "Only Time" (from A Day Without Rain) was used as a backdrop in many radio and TV reports about the attacks. She initially frowned upon this use, especially when many bootlegged versions of Only Time mixed with sound effects from the attack began to appear.
Enya eventually agreed to release a special edition of the song with funds going to the families of victims. Many Enya fans, however, are resentful that her music has been linked with the attacks; an example of this occurred on a 2002 appearance on CNN's Larry King Live when images of battle in Afghanistan were shown on screen as she performed "May It Be", a song with little war connection. This sparked some complaints within Enya's fan community.
Enya is admittedly a slow worker when it comes to composing music. As a result, fans have had to wait as long as five years between albums. In September 2004, a new song, set to words from a Japanese poem Roma Ryan had written and called "Sumiregusa" ("Wild Violet") was unveiled in Japan as part of an advertising campaign for Panasonic. In announcing the new recording, Warner Music Japan stated that Enya's next album was scheduled for release (in Japan at least) in mid-November. Enya issued a press release on her official Web site on 19 September stating that this was a mistake and no new album was immediately forthcoming.
Enya was awarded the World's Best-Selling Irish Act award at the World Music Awards in London on 19 November 2006. On February 11, 2007 Amarantine won Enya her fourth Grammy when it was awarded the Best New Age Album award.
Recent Releases
In November of 2005, a new album, entitled Amarantine, was released. It won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album for 2007.
In 2006, Enya released several Christmas-themed CDs with newly recorded material. On October 10, 2006, Sounds of the Season was released containing six songs: the previously released "Oíche Chiúin" (a.k.a. "Silent Night") and "Amid the Falling Snow", new recordings of the standards "Adeste Fideles" (a.k.a. "Oh Come All Ye Faithful") and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" as well as two original songs, "Christmas Secrets" and "The Magic of the Night". This CD was released only in the United States in an exclusive partnership with the NBC television network and the Target department store chain.
In later November two new editions of Amarantine were released. In North America, it was reissued as Amarantine - Special Christmas Edition with a second disc containing the four new Christmas songs previously issued on Sounds of the Season (the original album already had "Amid the Falling Snow" while "Oíche Chiúin" is a recording dating back to 1988 which had already been featured on numerous collections). The UK received a deluxe version of this release (Amarantine - The UK Special Edition) which also included three postcards and a copy of Roma Ryan's book Water Shows the Hidden Heart which is referenced on the original album. Canadian fans could choose from the Special Christmas Edition of Amarantine, or an EP entitled Christmas Secrets which only contained the four new songs.
Coinciding with these releases was the relaunch of Enya's official website on Nov. 2, 2006. On November 16, 2006 Enya mentioned on ITV1's that she is working on a new album. A month later, in a Japanese interview Enya said that the album will be a complete Christmas album and it will be released in the winter of 2007. There is no schedule for the release date itself.
Enya's album, "And Winter Came", was released in November 2008. It contains twelve tracks - ten brand new songs plus a newly recorded choral rendering of Oiche Chiuin (Silent Night) and a stunning version of the traditional Christmas hymn 'O come, o come Emmanuel'
Enya was born into a musical family. Her father, Leo Brennan, was the leader of the Slieve Foy Band, a popular Irish show band; her mother was an amateur musician. Most important to Enya's career were her siblings, who formed Clannad in 1976 with several of their uncles. Enya joined the band as a keyboardist in 1979, and contributed to several of the group's popular television soundtracks. In 1982, she left Clannad, claiming that she was uninterested in following the pop direction the group had begun to pursue. Within a few years she was commissioned, along with producer/arranger Nicky Ryan and lyricist Roma Ryan, to provide the score for a BBC-TV series called The Celts. The soundtrack was released in 1986 as her eponymous solo album.
Enya didn't receive much notice, but Enya and the Ryans' second effort, Watermark, became a surprise hit upon its release in 1988. "Orinoco Flow," the first single, became a number one hit in Britain, helping the album eventually sell eight million copies worldwide. Enya spent the years following the success of Watermark rather quietly; her most notable appearance was a cameo on Sinéad O'Connor's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. She finally released Shepherd Moons, her follow-up to Watermark, in 1991. Shepherd Moons was even more successful than its predecessor, eventually selling over ten million copies worldwide; it entered the U.S. charts at number 17 and remained in the Top 200 for almost four years.
Again, Enya was slow to follow up on the success of Shepherd Moons, spending nearly four years working on her fourth album. The record, entitled Memory of Trees, was released in December of 1995. Memory of Trees entered the U.S. charts at number nine and sold over two million copies within its first year of release. In 1997 came the release of a greatest-hits collection, Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya, which featured two new songs. Enya's first album of new material in five years, A Day Without Rain, was released in late 2000. In 2001, she contributed material to the first film in Peter Jackson's award-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy, scoring a hit with the single "May It Be." Amarantine, her first full-length recording since Day Without Rain, followed in November of 2005, and has so far sold nearly five million copies.
(Much of the above content of this biography has been taken from http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0ifoxqe5ldhe~T1.)
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, her song "Only Time" (from A Day Without Rain) was used as a backdrop in many radio and TV reports about the attacks. She initially frowned upon this use, especially when many bootlegged versions of Only Time mixed with sound effects from the attack began to appear.
Enya eventually agreed to release a special edition of the song with funds going to the families of victims. Many Enya fans, however, are resentful that her music has been linked with the attacks; an example of this occurred on a 2002 appearance on CNN's Larry King Live when images of battle in Afghanistan were shown on screen as she performed "May It Be", a song with little war connection. This sparked some complaints within Enya's fan community.
Enya is admittedly a slow worker when it comes to composing music. As a result, fans have had to wait as long as five years between albums. In September 2004, a new song, set to words from a Japanese poem Roma Ryan had written and called "Sumiregusa" ("Wild Violet") was unveiled in Japan as part of an advertising campaign for Panasonic. In announcing the new recording, Warner Music Japan stated that Enya's next album was scheduled for release (in Japan at least) in mid-November. Enya issued a press release on her official Web site on 19 September stating that this was a mistake and no new album was immediately forthcoming.
Enya was awarded the World's Best-Selling Irish Act award at the World Music Awards in London on 19 November 2006. On February 11, 2007 Amarantine won Enya her fourth Grammy when it was awarded the Best New Age Album award.
Recent Releases
In November of 2005, a new album, entitled Amarantine, was released. It won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album for 2007.
In 2006, Enya released several Christmas-themed CDs with newly recorded material. On October 10, 2006, Sounds of the Season was released containing six songs: the previously released "Oíche Chiúin" (a.k.a. "Silent Night") and "Amid the Falling Snow", new recordings of the standards "Adeste Fideles" (a.k.a. "Oh Come All Ye Faithful") and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" as well as two original songs, "Christmas Secrets" and "The Magic of the Night". This CD was released only in the United States in an exclusive partnership with the NBC television network and the Target department store chain.
In later November two new editions of Amarantine were released. In North America, it was reissued as Amarantine - Special Christmas Edition with a second disc containing the four new Christmas songs previously issued on Sounds of the Season (the original album already had "Amid the Falling Snow" while "Oíche Chiúin" is a recording dating back to 1988 which had already been featured on numerous collections). The UK received a deluxe version of this release (Amarantine - The UK Special Edition) which also included three postcards and a copy of Roma Ryan's book Water Shows the Hidden Heart which is referenced on the original album. Canadian fans could choose from the Special Christmas Edition of Amarantine, or an EP entitled Christmas Secrets which only contained the four new songs.
Coinciding with these releases was the relaunch of Enya's official website on Nov. 2, 2006. On November 16, 2006 Enya mentioned on ITV1's that she is working on a new album. A month later, in a Japanese interview Enya said that the album will be a complete Christmas album and it will be released in the winter of 2007. There is no schedule for the release date itself.
Enya's album, "And Winter Came", was released in November 2008. It contains twelve tracks - ten brand new songs plus a newly recorded choral rendering of Oiche Chiuin (Silent Night) and a stunning version of the traditional Christmas hymn 'O come, o come Emmanuel'
Na leath geal m
Enya Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ag amharc tré m'óige
Is mé bhí sámh
Gan eolas marbh
Bhí mé óg san am,
[Chorus]
Anois, táim buartha
's fad ar shiúil an lá.
Ochón 's ochón ó.
Na laetha geal m'óige
Bhí siad lán de dhóchas
An bealach mór a bhí romham anonn
Bhí sé I ndán domh go mbeinn, slán, slán.
[Chorus]
[Translation]
The bright days of my youth
(In honor of my father and mother)
Looking back over my youth
I see I was contented
Without knowledge of death
I was young then
Now I am worried
During the course of the day.
(Oh sorrow!) (Alas and woe, oh.)
The bright days of my youth
Were full of hope
The big road that was before us then
Was what was destined to be,
Bye bye)
Is mé bhí sámh
Gan eolas marbh
Bhí mé óg san am,
[Chorus]
Anois, táim buartha
's fad ar shiúil an lá.
Na laetha geal m'óige
Bhí siad lán de dhóchas
An bealach mór a bhí romham anonn
Bhí sé I ndán domh go mbeinn, slán, slán.
[Chorus]
[Translation]
The bright days of my youth
(In honor of my father and mother)
Looking back over my youth
I see I was contented
Without knowledge of death
I was young then
Now I am worried
During the course of the day.
(Oh sorrow!) (Alas and woe, oh.)
The bright days of my youth
Were full of hope
The big road that was before us then
Was what was destined to be,
Bye bye)
Enya's "Na Laetha Geal M'oige" is a hauntingly beautiful song that explores the nostalgia and longing for the carefree days of youth. The Irish lyrics express a deep sense of longing as the singer reflects back on a time in their life when they were young, innocent, and blissfully unaware of the hardships and sorrows that come with age. The use of the past tense in the lyrics emphasizes the reality that these days are gone forever, and that the singer is left with only memories.
The chorus, with its mournful repetition of "Ochón 's ochón ó" (which roughly translates to "Alas and woe"), adds to the sadness and sense of loss in the song. The line "Anois, táim buartha, 's fad ar shiúil an lá" ("Now I am worried during the course of the day") underscores the weight of responsibility and the burdens of adulthood that the singer must bear. The final lines, "Bhí sé I ndán domh go mbeinn, slán, slán" ("It was destined for me to be well, well"), express a hope for a positive outcome despite the sadness of reminiscence.
Overall, "Na Laetha Geal M'oige" is a poignant tribute to the fleeting nature of youth and the inevitable passage of time. The song's gentle melody and Enya's ethereal vocals add to its dreamlike quality and universal appeal.
Line by Line Meaning
Ag amharc tré m'óige
Looking back over my youth
Is mé bhí sámh
I see I was contented
Gan eolas marbh
Without knowledge of death
Bhí mé óg san am,
I was young then
Anois, táim buartha
Now I am worried
's fad ar shiúil an lá.
During the course of the day.
Ochón 's ochón ó.
(Oh sorrow!) (Alas and woe, oh.)
Na laetha geal m'óige
The bright days of my youth
Bhí siad lán de dhóchas
Were full of hope
An bealach mór a bhí romham anonn
The big road that was before us then
Bhí sé I ndán domh go mbeinn, slán, slán.
Was what was destined to be, Bye bye
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: EITHNE NI BHRAONAIN, NICKY RYAN, ROMA RYAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Allen r
Looking back at my youth
I was content
Without dead knowledge
I was young, without time
Now I'm sorrowful
Those days are long past
Sadness and loss
The great days of my youth
They were full of expectation
The great journey that was before me then
Happiness was in store for me
Successful Synthetic Irish Bagpipe Expirament
From across the sea of time, from what once was to what is now
"Two people staring back at one another, but it is from two different time periods, and for a moment of time you both exist in the same moment, both able to see each other fully. The one young and the other old.
They both realize that they are each other, and that growth is unavoidable, but they continue to stare at one another, each realizing what the other will be, and what the other will lose, and what the other will gain. For a moment of time you are both young and you are old, with all of the full potential of each generation, and then within an instant you are both separated and you were back to being both separate.
your older self is reminded of every good thing that happened to them when they were younger, every person every relationship they went through, and through it all, even the heartache and the suffering, only within a moment of time, only all of anything that was ever good in those relationships, you feel the full effect of it all in a moment of time.
This happens when both you and your younger self stare at one another across the void time between your younger self and your older self.
And the younger self gets a glimpse, even a concentrated feeling of all the soon-to-be relationships that they will go through, good bad, and only all of the good that happens to any of those relationships is felt by the younger self across the sea of time.
And then within an instant it's gone. And through it all, even across the sea of time, your younger self and you're older self, are able to make peace about what they both know will happen and what they both know will not happen.
They have been freed from across the sea of time and the gap between what is to come and what has already been, what will be and what may even still come to be, because each has gained the experience of the other in a moment of time, and because of this combined experience from the older and the younger, both have been completed and both can finally have that peace."
Allen r
Looking through my youth
Ag amharc tri m'oige
It's like being alone
Se me bhi samh
Knowing them dead
Gan eolas marbh
I was young at the time
Bhi me og gan am
Now it's time to worry
Anois taim buartha
And the length of our day
'S fad ar shiul an la
Oh and oh oh
Ochon is ochon o
The white days of my youth
Na laetha geal m'oige
They were full of hope
Bhi siad lan de dhochas
My way to be there
An bealach mo a bhi romhan ansin
It was for me that I would be healthy
Bhi se i ndan dom go mbeadh me slan
JD L
God Bless Enya! She is a being from a different dimension that incarnated on earth for a special purpose.
Nardo Pereira pinto
EITHNE ! GRÁ MO CHROÍ!
mayolas bones
Beautiful language and wonderful vibe. Enya is one with nature. Nature has a calm a soothing pace that's good for the soul. Enya shares this pace with a world mostly on there own pace. Love Dave ❤️
Jan Sturk
A nice song from the beginning of Enya's career.
And nice to see Enya walking in the beautiful scenery and singing.
yetino
Just beyond the words to describe the beauty of this song
Allen r
Agreed
Allen r
My favorite of all Enya songs! To me this is the definitive song of her career.
Leandro Gasperi
Even though the song is not my favourite definitely, I must admit that Enya did a brilliant job composing this melody. The first times I listened, I felt there was something "annoying" within this song. Later on, after reading the translation, I realized that the melody was showing in a non better posible way all the grief, all the sorrow Enya wanted to express. But it's not the same sadness of other songs. No. It's different.
Celular Nuevo
Hi, cutie 💋
Allen r
@Leandro Gasperi maybe that’s why I connected with it initially. I had a terrible upbringing, I’m surprised I survived. That tension than resolve within the composition really resonates within me. It really made sense to me when my grandmother passed away and I was there.