Hi guys! 🙂
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.
Hey people! 🙂
Today I have another nice two-piece harp set for you, from the Irish harpist Lynn Saoirse who was already featured on this blog a couple times. While I don’t know who is the Morrison to whom the second piece pertains, for your information, in case you don’t know, Lisdoonvarna is a town in the west of Ireland, in co. Clare, famous for its music festivals.
Hey guys! 🙂
Today I’d like to share another song by Enya with you. I think if I were to make a ranking of my favourite songs by her, it could get into the top 10 or not far below. I really like the overall, reflective but at the same time light and soothing feel of this piece. Hope you’ll enjoy it too. 🙂
Let’s listen to some more harp music! This great Irish Celtic harpist – Lynn Saoirse – has been featured on this blog before, I really love her music. And this is a piece from her that I listened to recently, so thought I’d share. I don’t know who lord Massereene is really, I guess there is a place in Ireland called Massereene…? or am I wrong? I think there is. And I know there was such an aristocratic title in Ireland as viscount Massereene, so it most likely refers to one of its bearers, but which one, and why it honours him, I have no clue. It is a beautiful harp piece though, and that’s what matters to me the most in this particular case. 🙂
Hey people! 🙂
So I was looking for something that would be in line with the current period and that I haven’t yet shared with you, and finally I did find something that I’m quite surprised I didn’t share with you before because I really love this piece, it’s so beautiful. I’m generally surprised that I’ve never shared anything from Anuna on here.
This is not necessarily a Christmas carol or anything like that, but it comes from one of Anuna’s Christmas albums and is like a contemporary Christian hymn, so I thought it still would be very suitable. It was composed and written by Michael Glynn – the musical director and founder of Anuna – and the soloist is Lynn Hilary who also used to be part of quite a popular Irish Celtic group Celtic Woman and has released some solo music as well.
Anuna is a very interesting project, they do choral music that is very much based on Celtic elements but also draws a lot from the Christian choral singing tradition. I am not a huge fan of choral singing but I like what they do.
Here are the lyrics to this song in English:
He comes with the wind
He goes on the waves
He hears my prayer
When I call Him in the darkest moment of the night
Softly, softly, softly
I sleep softly, my Christ
Softly, softly, softly
I sleep softly in Your heart
Naked He stands at the dawn
In the new-born child
He is there at the end
As the soul parts from the body
Softly, softly, softly
I sleep softly, my Christ
Softly, softly, softly
I sleep softly in Your heart
There is no one so full of mercy and love
There is no way to understand Your goodness
You are my teacher and guide
I sleep softly in Your heart
Softly, softly, softly
I sleep softly, my Christ
Softly, softly, softly
I sleep softly in Your heart
It doesn’t seem to be on YouTube, so below are the links to Spotify and Songwhip, and on the latter you can find all the other streaming services where it is available:
Hey people! 🙂
Today I’d like to share with you a song from a young Irish singer that I’ve recently discovered and quite like. She is very talented, has been doing music for quite a few years but as far as I know only recently started actually publishing it, and she also produces her own music. It is really cool electropop. There are so many interesting Irish pop artists that the world hardly knows about and I think they’re worth following. So here’s Laoise (pronounced Leesha, in case you’re wondering 🙂 ) and maybe you’ll like her too. I think her music is very likeable. 🙂
And for today, I picked an acoustic cover by a young, Belgian artist. In fact, this is her most known song and the one that brought her most fame from what I’ve heard. This is also the only song from her that I’ve heard and I really like it. The original version is by the Irish band Kodaline, and I also do like the original, but her version is lovely. Hope you find it enjoyable as well. 🙂
This is a very interesting song by Enya. According to Enya’s lyricist – Roma Ryan – it was inspired by ancient sounds. As I understand it, the lyrics are a combination of mouth sounds, and some Irish and Scottish Gaelic. The song is also inspired by weaving, and the rhythm of it is the same as in weaving, that’s also what the lyrics concern. And as for the title, Ebudae is a pre Celtic name for Hebrides. So this is a very Celtic, very minimalistic piece, and I like this minimalistic feel about it. Here is the translation of the lyrics:
Look, women are working each day and into the night,
they sing of the brighter days that were,
the long road, back and forth forever.
Time for another Enya song. This is probably one of her most relatable songs for me, after Evacuee and Dreams Are More Precious. I just love listening to it, although it is very sad. I think it could also be relatable for many people, but in different ways, possibly many ways for one person as is the case with me.
The YouTube link for this song appears to be unavailable for something, so if you have your preferred streaming service, I’ll put a link to Songwhip below, and for those of you who use Spotify like me, there is a link to Spotify.
I don’t know how it happened, that despite I have had a faza on Enya and shared a lot of her music here, as well as some of her older sister Maire’s, I’ve never shared any music by their family band – Clannad – where Enya started out her music career. I really like a lot of their music, so it’s unfair! Big time to make a change!
You may know Clannad from some movies, to which they made music, like “Robin Hood”, “Harry’s Game” or “The Last Of The Mohicans”. My Mum was a huge U2 fan in the 90’s or so, and they also performed one track with Bono – the lead singer of U2 – and that’s where she knows them from, so you may too if you listen to U2. In any case, for a folk band, especially one which doesn’t always sing in English, they’re pretty famous.
This piece is also from a film score, namely from “The Last Of The Mohicans”. I’ve never ever watched the film, but I absolutely love this piece. It is very atmospheric, but I also just have so many nice associations and memories with. I used to be wondering what language they are singing this in – except for English. – They often do sing in their native Irish, but that doesn’t sound at all like Irish. And actually the answer is quite straightforward and obvious – it’s Mohican, and also apparently Cherokee. I have no clue what these Mohican/Cherokee bits mean, but a large part of it is in English, and whatever the rest of the lyrics are about, the song is really beautiful.
Hey people! 🙂
As I wrote yesterday in the MIMRA post, I’ve had quite an intense time lately but things are getting calmer so let’s try catching up on the regular posts, and later on I’d also like to write a couple longer ones.
Here is another beautiful piece – instrumental this time round – from Enya’s newest album “Dark Sky Island”. And like many tracks on this album it’s also inspired by nature. I really like it’s harmonies and it’s nicely light and just pleasant.
Hey people! 🙂
I think this is my favourite out of Enya’s more popular songs. I have so many positive feelings and associations related to it. This song was meant to be very daydream-y, and it feels right away, which is why I’ve always used it for some bigger daydreaming, relaxing visualisations and stuff. It has really helped me through so many situations and it is so relaxing and nourishing for the imagination.
As always in Enya’s case, when this song was created, the music came first, and then, when Enya’s lyricist – Roma Ryan – heard it, it made her think of the Caribbean, hence the title. It’s not as popular as Orinoco Flow, Only Time or May It Be, but people who aren’t Enya geeks yet at the same time know some more of her music than just these three songs, will typically remember hearing Caribbean Blue somewhere and able to tell that it’s Enya, or will even be well acquainted with it if they either have a bit of liking for Enya or generally 80’s music that is not necessarily disco. In Europe, it can also be heard in radio stations which play some light pop or a bit older stuff, here in Poland for example an oldies station called Radio Plus plays it regularly. So maybe you have also heard Caribbean Blue before, even if you are not a crazy Enya fan? In any case, if you are an escapist, I reckon you’ll like it even if you haven’t heard it before.
Hey people! 🙂
I shared one track from this great Irish harpist with you before, but I thought I’d love to share another one, when I was listening to her music last night. This is absolutely one of my most favourite pieces by her, and I think it’s very deep and moving. The harmony of this piece strongly reminds me of another, New England-based, Irish harpist – Aine Minogue – whom I love and whose music had helped me through a very difficult time.
Hey people! 🙂
Not long ago, I shared with you a harp piece performed by Sue Richards and composed by Irish national bard and composer who was also a harper – Turlough O’Carolan. – Today, I’m sharing another tune that was composed by him and that is one of his most popular compositions, very frequently played by harpers and harpists. The version I chose to share with you is by Celia Briar, whose music I’ve also shared with you quite a few times before. From what I’ve read, it used to be a song with Irish Gaelic lyrics, which are now unknown. O’Carolan wrote this song in praise of Eleanor Plunkett from Robertstown in co. Meath.
Hi people! 🙂
So I’ve shared a lot of harp music – especially Celtic harp music – with you lately, but as far as I can remember I haven’t shared anything at all from the rich legacy of the most famous Celtic harpist ever – Turlough O’Carollan. – It’s quite funny that people always associate harp, be it classical or Celtic or any other, primarily with women, and these days it’s mainly women playing this instrument and seems very unusual when it’s otherwise, while the most famous Irish Celtic harper was male. Turlough O’Carolan was born in late 17th century, and was a harper, composer and also a singer. He is regarded as Ireland’s national composer. At the age of eighteen he was blinded by smallpox. He spent most of his life journeying through the country on horseback, composing and playing his music.
A lot of contemporary harpists play his tunes, and this piece is no exception. I am sharing it with you performed by Sue Richards – Celtic harpist from North Carolina – but I’ve heard quite a few other versions. In Sue Richards’ version, there are also other instruments as you’ll be able to hear, which makes it feel nicely richer.
Hi people! 🙂
Today I want to share with you another song by Enya. It comes from her last album – Dark Sky Island – which as a whole was largely inspired by her various journeys, but this song is one of these by her that are particularly focused on nature, and Enya drew the inspiration from one of her walks, when she saw the sun, and how it it looked like there were diamonds on the water. So like she says herself, it’s a very “visual” song. I think it’s a very reflective and mindful piece and may appeal to a lot of people because of this.
Hey people! 🙂
Today I have another instrumental harp piece for you which really speaks to me. This time though, unlike yesterday, it’s Celtic, not classical, and harp-dominated rather than solo. I’ve shared this artist’s music with you before but more as a singer. It’s Maire/Moya/Mary Brennan/ni Bhraonain – Enya’s older sister and the lead singer of Clannad (the people behind “Robin, the hooded man” for example” who is a soloist as well. – But besides being a singer she’s also a harpist. I am not always the biggest fan of her singiing to be honest, just because I sort of don’t really like the hue of her voice but there absolutely are songs with her vocals that I truly love, but I much more prefer her as a harpist. And this instrumental piece from one of her solo albums is particularly emotive in my opinion.
Hey people! 🙂
I’d like to share another song by Enya with you today. An incredibly popular one. So popular, in fact, that it doesn’t even have as much of that special Enya feel to me as most of her music does. In a way I’m glad that her music isn’t totally obscure, that at least a lot of people know who she is, that you don’t have to be some real quirky individual to come across her music and enjoy its beauty and that it can speak to many people. But sometimes I feel like it really sucks that she’s so popular. Because as someone who’s had a faza on Enya and her music and has a special and very strong connection to it, it doesn’t sit right with me to know that people often listen to her music randomly without thinking much about it, call it new age when even Enya herself says it’s not, just because it reminds them of new age music, that some of her music is played in any of your average light pop radio stations often squeezed in between some rather mediocre tracks, and her most popular singles are often made into totally cringeworthy and sacrilegious – in my humble opinion – remixes which make my brain shrink and indeed, at least in my perception, ironically make her music have more of a feel akin to these sort of new age/pop/ethno fusion projects like Enigma, Era or Deep Forest. Yeah, I know I’m weird, but I can’t help the way I think about this. 😀 I just find it a bit yucky simply because I have a very personal relationship with her music and it feels like a prophany but I realise it’s just me. And, oh yeah, there’s that one song, only one single song by Enya that I dislike, to be more exact I actually hate it, not for any other reason than just because it doesn’t sit right with my brain and causes me sensory anxiety – so paradoxical given that her any other music has exactly the opposite effect, I don’t know why that is and I wish I liked this song, I really tried, but I just do not and trying to like it only makes it worse. – This song is Orinoco Flow, the single from her 80’s album Watermark, which got insanely popular and appears to be her most well known song. Such an irony.
With this song, Only Time, there is an awful, pop-y, cringey remix which as far as I remember was the first song by Enya that I’ve ever heard (no wonder that my first impressions of her music were very negative and I used to think I dislike her music in general, only later a friend convinced me and infected me with the faza on her ). You could hear this cringey remix in some stations here and I guess even more often than the original song.
So, after I’ve realised how much I actually love Enya, I never really had big feelings for Only Time just because it’s so normal, so popular, so overheard. I did like the original version but just not quite like her lesser known music. I still don’t have huge love for this song like I do for example for Dreams Are More Precious, but I try not to be unfair and disqualify it just because it’s popular. After all, it’s still very good and became popular for a reason.
I guess Enya is much less popular and known in America than in Europe, but this song is probably quite well known to American people as well, since it was used as a tribute to 9/11 victims, and in connection with that events the lyrics take on an entirely new meaning. So is the case in our current, weird times.
Hi people! 🙂
Yesterday, after having wild dreams featuring The Loxian Gate by Enya and sharing the afore mentioned song on here, I’ve started to listen to all of her albums chronologically and still hasn’t finished, and it feels like my faza on her has renewed a bit. Recently I had a bit of a refreshment of my faza on Cornelis – as I was working on another translation of his another song, the results of which were very mixed – and now it’s Enya. It’s very good, as I still don’t have an official, new, major faza, and faza on Gwilym has faded into the background so I do need something to keep me going. It’s a very regular pattern with Enya though. My faza on her never was particularly intense, no huge peaks or other such, but it’s always been very enriching, satisfying and just making my life feel better. And every year since she stopped being my major faza, when it gets autumnal, or more wintry, the faza will always come back and I’ll be listening to her music all the time and reading about her and just feeling very strongly about her music. I guess this time of year is just very right for listening to Enya and I also know I’m not the only one Enya fan who experiences a similar phenomenon.
So today I’m sharing with you another beautiful, space-themed piece which has always been very close to my brain and heart. I like Enya’s wordless, soothing and kind of magical vocals on this, and the keys – don’t they sound like they’re laughing? To me they do. 😀 They sound as if they were laughing quietly about something that only they know and as if they just were very happy in a quiet, calm way. – Shepherd Moons is one of the most special albums by Enya to me, maybe not necessarily the most favourite, but I just have so many significant memories with this, it’s helped me with so many upheavals in life, and this particular track, as well as Caribbean Blue and a few others on this album I find great for any kind of relaxing visualisation as they are very nourishing for the imagination.
The album, as well as its title track, got its name from the shepherd moons of Saturn – Pandora and Prometeus – which was Roma Ryan’s idea.
Hey people! 🙂
Today I want to share with you a song from my very first faza, which is Enya. While I find the Loxian language in which it is sung very fascinating and intriguing, I never had any very special connections with this song in particular. But last night I had some really wild dreams, and when I woke up, I heard this song in my brain, and I’m pretty sure it was in my dream too, so I decided that this will be our song of the day. But let me first tell you a bit about this Loxian language thing first, as I’m pretty sure most of you don’t know what it is. 😉
Loxian is a conlang (constructed language) created by Roma Ryan – who is a poet, as well as Enya’s lyricist and close friend. – Actually Enya, while being the anglicised version of the name of the singer, should be seen as the name of the whole trio – that is Eithne ni Bhraonain (or Enya Brennan – the composer, singer, keyboardist and the main person behind this) Nicky Ryan (the producer and manager) and Roma Ryan (the lyricist) – that’s at least what Enya says herself. Enya is known for singing her music in very different languages, I believe depending on which happens to suit best to what she wants to express, and both her and Roma have a strong interest in Tolkien’s literature (Enya has after all sung two songs for the soundtrack of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring). In 2005, when Enya was recording her album Amarantine, she had a problem with one of the songs, she called it Water Shows The Hidden Heart. She attempted to sing it in English, Irish and Latin but none of these languages conveyed the message that she wanted this song to express. So Roma created, just for the sake of this song and inspired by Tolkien’s elvish languages, an artistic language, or more like a soundscape at first, that she called Loxian, and it turned out just right for its purpose. Enya liked it so much that in the end she wanted to sing two more songs for this album in this new language, and so Roma decided to develop it further, as well as the culture in which it would be spoken. I’m not sure I understand it exactly the right way (it feels a little bit abstractive to me the more that the language itself seems to be very much a visual thing, with six visual scripts that it can be written in, so I don’t really get the chance to bite into it properly and figure out for myself what it’s all about and how it works), but according to the creator, Loxian is the future language of the Celts who would have migrated through space to some other planet. Loxian is, as you’ll be able to hear, an incredibly vowel-rich language, and is based on bits of English, Irish, Old English, Welsh, Hindu and Siberian Yupik (quite an intriguing, diverse and beautiful mix!).
The song Loxian Gate (from her last album) itself is about how the Loxians (so those descendants of the Celts from another planet) view the seasons of the year, the ones that we have now, and the ones that they have in their world.
