Today I’d like to share with you another song from Enya. Roma Ryan (Enya’s lyricist) wrote the lyrics to it in Silent Valley in the Mourne Mountains, , co. Down, for her daughter Ebony, about first love, but also love in general and how it’s not only and not always an amazing feeling like we would all like to believe, but it also often brings a lot of pain, or even loss. But the thing you still have left is hope.
Enya decided that, in order to write just the right melody for these lyrics, she’d also need to go to the same place (I really like that approach and I think it seriously makes sense because places always have their own spirit). Not only did she write the melody there, but also her producer – Nicky Ryan – decided that they’d record the lead vocal there, outside, which I think gives this piece even more of a soul. I think it’s actually the melody that I love the most about this piece.
Recently I shared with you all a piece from Clannad’s debut album, and now I thought I would share a piece from their last album, which was released in 2013, after I believe a fifteen-year break since the release of Landmarks. I think comparing these two pieces and their style shows quite well how Clannad has evolved over all those years since its beginning.
Today I’m sharing with you two harp pieces performed by Irish harpist Lynn Saoirse, and composed by the famous 18th-century Irish Celtic harpist Turlough O’Carolan. I wrote about him before when sharing some piece composed by him. He was travelling a lot and staying in the houses of rich people, playing for them. At the end of his stay, he would typically present his hosts with a piece that he wrote especially for them, as a way of expressing his gratitude. And these pieces that he composed specifically for his patrons are called planxty, just like the second piece in this set. I don’t know who the Burkes were, or maybe it was just one person, in his life, nor who was Isabella Burke to whom the first piece is specifically dedicated, beyond quite an obvious fact that they must have been his patrons. I really like both these pieces and I can’t even decide which one is more beautiful.
I chose to share with you today this song by Clannad, which I believe is one of their more popular songs in their native tongue and comes back from the times when their music was a bit more folky than it became later. I think though the lyrics must be traditional. I found two different translations of this song,one vastly different than the other, and I had a feeling like neither really made sense, so no translation this time. I’m not even fully sure if I got exactly the right translatioon of the title literally, since I don’t speak Irish myself yet so can’t verify it, but even if it’s not fully accurate, it can’t be very far off in terms of meaning. Despite I know so little about this song, I like it, and that’s why I’m sharing it.
So it’s Good Friday, and today I am so extremely happy to finally be able to share with you a piece of music that I’ve always wanted to share on a Good Friday, ever since I’ve had this blog. But first I forgot, and then I couldn’t find the album from which it came anywhere online. I got an mp3 version of it from a friend ages ago and I loved it, even though back then I wasn’t close to God, I just loved it for its aesthetic value and a slightly Gothic feel, and the Irish Gaelic language. Then I lost it somewhere and this particular song stuck with me the most, and then later on when I re-converted to Christianity I could always hear it in my brain during Lent or on the feast of the Sorrowful Mother (15th September).
I’ve found other versions of it, but none spoke to me quite as much as the one I’m about to share with you today. And today, I finally found this piece! It comes from Hector Zazou’s 1996 album called Lights In The Dark, where there are a lot of Irish Catholic hymns, all in Gaelic I believe and all or almost all devoted to Our Lady. Because I haven’t been able to find the entire album, I can’t confirm it, but I believe the vocalist is called Katie MCMahon.
I haven’t ever listened to any other music by Hector Zazou, but I’ve heard that he is, or have been, actually involved in new age music circles as well. Like I said though, I have never heard it, and I don’t know if it’s from before his new age activity, or afterwards, or maybe some project he was involved in in-between, so I don’t feel like I’m the right person to judge it or whether his rendition of this piece is one that Christians can safely listen to, but, I dunno, it is really beautiful, I’d be really surprised to learn if the lyrics were any different than in the original, and even if it wasn’t exactly performed with the intent of glorifying God, I believe that if we’ll listen to it with the right mindset, it will make a difference and be pleasant to God. If there will ever be any Catholic, or even any other Christian people reading this, let me know what your stance is on this, I’d be curious to know.
The song is about the Seven Sorrows of The Virgin Mary which she suffered during Her life on Earth, which were:
  The Prophecy of Simeon (during the Presentation of Jesus in the temple, when he told Mary that a sword would pierce Her Soul due to Her Son’s Death),
The flight of the Sacred Family to Egypt (to avoid killing of the Child Jesus by Herod),
Loss of the Child Jesus for three days (during the pilgrimage to Jerusalem),
Today I’m sharing from you something from Clannad, which I’m fairly sure is a traditional Irish song. To me, it sounds a lot like some old school marriage ad. 😀 I’ve found a translation of it, and then another one, albeit incomplete, I believe. The other one seems to be more literal, because it makes more sense, and the first one is more poetic. I normally prefer sharing literal translations because while they’re less fancy, they actually show you better what a song is about. But here, we’re going with the poetic one, since the other one wasn’t full like I said.
I am a boy from Ireland and I’d coax a nice young girl,
I wouldn’t ask for a dowry with her, I’m rich enough myself,
I own Cork, big as it is both sides of the glen and Tyrone,
And if I don’t change my ways I’ll be the heir for County Mayo.
Cow herding, my Leo, I did not never practice,
But playing and drinking with new young women by the mountain.
If I lost my wealth and I don’t think I lost my sense,
And your kiss is no more to me than a show worn for a year.
My love and treasure, don’t marry the old grey man,
But marry a young man, my Leo, even though he lives but a year,
Or you’ll still be without a daughter or son above you,
Today I chose to share with you a piece from Órla Fallon – a former member of Celtic Woman – this time an instrumental one, that I really like. This is a traditional piece, and I don’t really get what its title is supposed to mean, but, like I said in the title, Kitty Of Societies is apparently its literal translation. This song was also performed by Clannad but with lyrics.
Today I’m sharing with you another solo piano piece by Enya. This one is closely related to her earlier piece, “Miss Clare Remembers”, in that they are both inspired by short stories written by English author Miss Read. Enya enjoyed reading about the countryside life in these stories and found the people in them interesting. I learned about the origins of these two songs relatively recently and, while I still haven’t read these stories, I think I will at some point, because they sound like something that might be right up Bibiel’s alley. The music they inspired is definitely beautiful.
Today I’d like to share with you another piano-driven piece by Enya. I really love its harmony. As is often the case with Enya’s music, this piece doesn’t have lyrics, but I also couldn’t find anything about its background or the inspiration behind it, so I think we can be free to imagine it being about whatever it makes us think of.
This beautiful solo harp piece with an oh so depressing title that I feel like sharing with you today comes from the Irish harpist whose music I’ve shared with you quite often before – that is Celia Briar. – I think it’s one of her more beautiful pieces so I hope you enjoy it too. 🙂
A song that I’d like to share with you today comes from Irish singer and harpist, perhaps most known for being a former member of Celtic Woman, but who has also released several solo albums – Órla Fallon. – I love her angelic vocals and her harp play. She is also Christian, or clearly seems to be, considering that she has recorded quite a lot of Christian songs and Christmas carols. This song also reflects it very well.
While, to be honest, it doesn’t resonate all that much with me musically as a lot of Órla’s other music does, there’s too much country feel in it for me on this whole album, the way she sings it is so heartfelt, and the lyrics are lovely and of course very relatable for all Christians, if also a little childish, which in my opinion only gives them more charm. So all that makes me really like this little tune and I think a lot of Christians may feel the same. It was written by a British teacher – Charles Alexander Landsborough.
Today, let’s listen to a really simple (for Enya’s standards) and quite minimalistic piece – you guessed it – by Enya!
Originally it was really short and sweet and called just Portrait, was something over a minute long, but then later on she recorded an extended version, and this one is called Portrait (Out Of The Blue). While a lot of Enya’s music is heavily based on synthesisers, this piece is very much piano-dominated, since it was the first instrument that Enya was playing.
Today I’d like to share with you a song from an Irish artist I’ve discovered quite recently – there seem to be so many great young Irish singers that have emerged lately that discovering them can be a lot of fun and I think Irish pop doesn’t get as much time in the limelight as it deserves, not even on my blog I guess, because there are so many genres and countries I’m into musically. 😀
Anyway, this is Nell Mescal, and her second single – “Deja Vu” – which I think is very powerful. She is from county Kildare, and is sister to Irish actor Paul Mescal.
This is a song from Enya’s most recent album (Dark Sky Island). This was the first (and only so far) album of Enya’s that she released since my faza on her has started, so it was an extremely exciting time for me. She is never in a hurry with releasing new albums, and it always takes a lot of time because with the sort of music she makes, recording an album is a complex and long process and she puts a lot of effort into it. But that also means that every her album is of extremely good quality, which someone who releases something very regularly wouldn’t be able to achieve unless they’re some sort of a genius, in my opinion, and it also means that there is always so much anticipation when you finally get to hear that her new album is going to be out.
This was the first single from this album that came out and one that was of particular interest to more mainstream media so I think the first time I heard it was in some radio station, and I had that wave of excitement and anticipation rushing through my brain, which is why this song always makes me think of anticipating some good things. Also because, as Roma Ryan – Enya’s lyricist – says, this song is meant to be all about anticipation, more specifically about anticipating the end of a journey. The whole album is very much journey-themed and -inspired, like a lot of Enya’s music, and this particular song is all about how you feel when you know you’re heading back home. Myself being a homebody, this is, I think, the part of any journey that I love the most. 😀
Thought I’d post something wintry from Enya, because I hasn’t shared a lot of her winter music this particular year, and today we’re having a bit of snow so it seems fit. This is a beautiful Latin song from her album “And Winter Came”. Interestingly, she also has an almost identical song only with different lyrics, called “One Toy Soldier” which is a Christmas song and, as you can imagine, has completely different lyrics.
Today I have another two-piece harp set with reels for you, from Lynn Saoirse. I’m not sure about the first one, but the second is definitely traditional. I’m not sure who the Cahir in the title is, I’m pretty sure there was a character named Cahir in The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski but I don’t suppose it’s about this one, haha, there’s also a town in Ireland of this name.
I was surprised to see that I haven’t shared this song on here before, because this is seriously one of my favourite instrumental/wordless pieces by Enya. It comes from her album with the same title, and it’s very special to me because there is something so very bittersweet about this whole album that I love. The title of both this song and the album comes, as nearly always, from Enya’s lyricist – Roma Ryan – who was inspired by the druidic tradition of placing great importance on trees in their religion and culture. The Celts considered trees – oaks in particular but all trees really – to be sacred and have each their own powers, even the word druid is supposed to come from the Celtic word for oaktree (druids, in case you don’t know, were very basically like Celtic priests). Enya says this title isn’t meant to be any kind of an ecological statement and it’s up to a listener to imagine whatever comes up in the mind upon seeing the title. As for me, the title The Memory of Trees makes me think of all sorts of memories that trees hold, that they could tell us about if they could, all sorts of things they have witnessed over the years. It sounds fascinating. Does this title make you think of anything in particular? How about this piece?
Today I’d like to share with you this amazing piece from Enya. There is just something so majestic and stunning about it that I love, it gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it.
This piece is part of Enya’s album The Celts, which is the soundtrack of BBC TV series of the same title. Apparently the BBC people who stood behind the series had a lot of music to choose from as the soundtrack of the series, but they didn’t like anything of that, so finally they decided to ring Enya, or more exactly her manager Nicky Ryan, and ask if they’d be interested. The way I understand it from what I read, March of the Celts was the first piece that they – Enya and Nicky – sent to them, and ended up being commissioned to write the whole soundtrack. Just who wouldn’t like to have a soundtrack ike this to a series they were making?! 😀
This song is mostly created of mouth sounds, as a lot of Enya’s music, and apparently the only actual (Irish) lyrics that are in there say
Since the Christmas period over here lasts from Christmas Eve all the way to Candlemas, and because I haven’t posted much Christmas music in the song of the day this Christmas season, today, here’s a rendition of this German-Latin Christmas carol, from Moya Brennan, most known as the vocalist of Clannad, who is also Enya’s sister. She sings it in the English-Latin translation though.
