Enya (album)

Enya
Soundtrack album by Enya
Released	May 1987
Genre	Celtic
Length	39:06
Label	BBC (UK) Atlantic (US)
Producer	Nicky Ryan
Enya chronology
Enya (1987) Watermark (1988)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[2]
Piero Scaruffi	7/10[3]

Enya is the soundtrack album of the 1987 BBC documentary series The Celts. It is also the debut solo album of Enya, an Irish singer, pianist, and composer.

The album was later reissued and remastered as The Celts in 1992.

Background

The album was first released in the UK by the BBC on their own label, and later issued in North America by Atlantic Records. It reached No.69 in the UK Albums Chart in June 1987.^[4] In 1992, Warner Music reissued a remastered version of the album as The Celts.

The album includes only a portion of the music Enya composed for the documentary series. In 1992, coinciding with the reissue of the album, a previously unreleased track from these sessions, "Eclipse", was released as a B-side on the CD single for "the Celts". In 2005, another previously unreleased track from the same sessions, a "Spaghetti Western Theme" done in the style of Hugo Montenegro, was released on the CD single for "Amarantine", in memory of one of the producers of the TV series.

Filmmaker David Bickley reused music from the soundtrack was later in The Memory of Earth,^[5] an installment in his documentary trilogy Mythological Lands. The song "Boadicea" was also used in the soundtrack of the 1992 American film Sleepwalkers.

Track listing

Track 2: Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation Taurus.

Track 9: Epona is a goddess in the Gallo-Roman religion.

Track 10: Cú Chulainn is a culture hero of the British Isles; Oisin is a boy's name in several Celtic languages.

Track 12: Boadicea was an Iceni queen who led a resistance against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire.

Track 14: The title "Dan y Dŵr" (Welsh for "Under the Water") alludes to the intentional flooding of the Welsh village of Capel Celyn.

Sampling by other artists

The Fugees sampled "Boadicea" from this album for their song "Ready or Not" on 1996's The Score. Enya had prepared to sue the group for copyright infringement because they had not asked for permission and did not give her credit. After learning that The Fugees were not gangsta rappers, Enya declined to follow through with the suit, but stickers were then placed on The Score giving Enya credit for her work.^[6] Mario Winans also sampled "Boadicea" for the melody of the song "I Don't Wanna Know". Producer P. Diddy reportedly personally contacted Enya for permission and gave her 60 percent of the royalties.^[7] She also received name billing ("Mario Winans featuring Enya and P. Diddy") for the song, which turned out to be a hit, putting her name #2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart in 2004. The song was also sampled on the answer-back song "You Should Really Know" by The Pirates featuring Shola Ama, Naila Boss & Ishani which peaked at #8 on the UK Singles Chart. "Boadicea" (with "Ready or Not") was also sampled by Nina Sky for their hype single "Time to Go" featuring Angie Martinez, from the mixtape presented by Cipha Sounds.

The title track was used as the theme music for the sports show Gaelic Games which aired in the UK on Channel 4 in the 1990s.

Italian hardstyle DJ Francesco Zeta's (Argese Francesco) 2008 song "Fairyland" made use of a sample from "Boadicea". In 2011 a small sample of "Boadicea" has been used in the song Der erste Winter by German singer Cassandra Steen, which has been released on the album Mir so nah. In 2012 he made another version, subtitled "ReAmp", which again utilised the sample. Also in 2012, hip hop artist Meek Mill sampled "Boadicea" on his mixtape Dreamchasers 2 on a song named after the Fugees' song, "Ready or Not".

The Celts

The Celts
Studio album by Enya
Released	6 November 1992 (1992-11-06)
Recorded	1985-1986
Genre	New Age, celtic
Length	39:19
Label	WEA (UK) Reprise (US)
Producer	Nicky Ryan
Enya chronology
Shepherd Moons (1991) The Celts (1992) The Memory of Trees (1995)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Los Angeles Times	[9]

Enya was re-released with new packaging under the title The Celts in 1992. The album was remastered by Arun Chakraverty, who was also the mastering engineer of Enya's 1995 album The Memory of Trees. The album's cover and liner notes were laid out by graphic designer Sooky Choi, who was also the graphic designer for The Memory of Trees. The album cover photograph is by David Scheinmann.

On this version "Portrait" is renamed "Portrait (Out of the Blue)" in an extended version. This extended version was previously released in 1988 as "Out of the Blue", the B-side to the single "Orinoco Flow". Three other songs run slightly longer than on Enya: "The Celts" (track 1), "March of the Celts" (track 4), and "To Go Beyond (II)" (track 15).

Personnel

• Patrick Halling – violin
• Arty McGlynn – electric guitar
• Liam O'Flynn – Uilleann pipes
• Roma Ryan – lyrics
• Enya – all other instruments, vocals

Production

• Published by Aigle Music.
• Words for "I Want Tomorrow" and "Dan y Dŵr" written by Roma Ryan
• Words for "The Celts", "March of the Celts", "Aldebaran" and "Deireadh an Tuath" written by Enya and Roma Ryan.
• Words to "St. Patrick" are traditional.
• Enya: Vocals, piano, Juno 60, DX7, Emulator II and Kurzweil
• Music arranged by Enya and Nicky Ryan.
• Recorded at BBC Enterprises Studio Woodlands, London, and Aigle Studios, Dublin.
• Producer: Nicky Ryan
• Executive producer: Bruce Talbot
• Engineers: Nigel Read, Nicky Ryan
• Sleeve design and art direction: Mario Moscardini
• Photography: Martyn J. Adleman
• Re-mastered by Sam Feldman at Atlantic Studios, NYC
• Saxophone: Per Sundberg

Certifications

Enya

The Celts

References

External links

• Enya at Discogs (list of releases)