CLANNAD: THE ROOTS OF CELTIC MUSIC FROM GWEEDORE

Clannad

Clannad are an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal. Their music has been variously described as bordering on folk and folk rock, traditional Irish, Celtic and new-age, often incorporating elements of an even broader spectrum of smooth jazz and Gregorian chant. 

After twelve years of success in the folk music industry, they shot to international recognition in 1982 with the release of the Theme from Harry's Game, becoming the most successful band in the Celtic music genre. They subsequently went on to bridge the gap between traditional Celtic music and pop music in the 1980s and 1990s with albums such as Macalla and Anam. 

Their records usually consist of traditional Gaelic ballads, new-age tracks that carry the group's trademark of haunting vocal harmonies, mellow harp-based instrumentals and often upbeat pop-flavoured numbers. During their career they toured the world extensively and gained fans in every major territory. They have recorded in six different languages, most notably in Irish and they are also widely regarded as one of the bands which put Irish traditional music and the Irish language on the world stage and paved the way for many other Irish artists. 

Clannad are a family band composed of siblings Moya Brennan, Ciarán Brennan, Pól Brennan and their twin uncles Noel Duggan and Pádraig Duggan (died 9 August 2016). Their sister/niece Eithne Ní Bhraonáin (aka Enya) left the group in 1981 to pursue a solo career. 

When Clannad first started out in the early 1970s their music and sound stemmed solely from their traditional background. Despite this they managed to popularise such old songs as Dúlamán, Teidhir Abhaile Riú and Coinleach Glas An Fhómhair, and these songs have remained popular numbers at their concerts.

Traces of Clannad's legacy can be heard in the music of many artists, including Enya, Altan, Capercaillie, The Corrs, Loreena McKennitt, Anúna, Riverdance, Órla Fallon and even U2. Bono stated that Moya has one of the greatest voices the human ear has ever experienced.

More information: Clannad

There's some familiarity in Celtic music, 

even if you've never heard that piece of music before. 

Nobuo Uematsu

EITHNE PATRICIA NÍ BHRAONÁIN: IRISH FOLK IN ESSENCE

Enya

Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (1961), better known professionally as Enya, is an Irish singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. Born into a musical family and raised in the Irish speaking area of Gweedore in County Donegal, Enya began her music career when she joined her family's Celtic band Clannad in 1980 on keyboards and backing vocals. She left in 1982 with their manager and producer Nicky Ryan to pursue a solo career, with Ryan's wife Roma Ryan as her lyricist. Enya developed her distinct sound over the following four years with multi-tracked vocals and keyboards with elements of new age, Celtic, classical, church, and folk music. She has sung in ten languages.

Enya's first projects as a solo artist included soundtrack work for The Frog Prince (1984) and the 1987 BBC documentary series The Celts, which was released as her debut album, Enya (1987). She signed with Warner Music UK which granted her considerable artistic freedom and minimal interference from the label. 

More information: Enya

The commercial and critical success of Watermark (1988) propelled her to worldwide fame, helped by its international top 10 hit single, Orinoco Flow. This was followed by the multi-million selling albums Shepherd Moons (1991), The Memory of Trees (1995) and A Day Without Rain (2000). Sales of the latter and its lead single, Only Time, surged in the United States following its use in the media coverage of the September 11 attacks. Following Amarantine (2005) and And Winter Came... (2008), Enya took an extended break from music; she returned in 2012 and released Dark Sky Island (2015).

Enya is known for her private lifestyle and has yet to undergo a concert tour. She is Ireland's biggest selling solo artist and second overall behind U2, with a discography that has sold 26.5 million certified albums in the United States and an estimated 80 million albums worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.  

A Day Without Rain (2000) remains the best selling new age album with an estimated 16 million copies sold worldwide. Enya has won several awards throughout her career, including seven World Music Awards, four Grammy Awards for Best New Age Album, and an Ivor Novello Award. She was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for May It Be, a song she wrote for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

More information: @official_enya

 It wasn't so long ago that it was not popular to speak Gaelic in Ireland because the areas that Gaelic is spoken in were much poorer areas. 

Enya

AMAZING GRACE! I ONCE WAS LOST, BUT NOW AM FOUND

Amazing Grace is a Christian hymn published in 1779, with words written by the English poet and Anglican clergyman John Newton (1725–1807).

Newton wrote the words from personal experience. He grew up without any particular religious conviction, but his life's path was formed by a variety of twists and coincidences that were often put into motion by his recalcitrant insubordination.

 

He was pressed, conscripted, into service in the Royal Navy, and after leaving the service, he became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. 

In 1748, a violent storm battered his vessel off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland, so severely that he called out to God for mercy, a moment that marked his spiritual conversion. He continued his slave trading career until 1754 or 1755, when he ended his seafaring altogether and began studying Christian theology.

Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton became curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he began to write hymns with poet William Cowper. 

Amazing Grace was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day of 1773. It is unknown if there was any music accompanying the verses; it may have simply been chanted by the congregation. It debuted in print in 1779 in Newton and Cowper's Olney Hymns but settled into relative obscurity in England. In the United States, however, Amazing Grace was used extensively during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century. It has been associated with more than 20 melodies, but in 1835 it was joined to a tune named New Britain to which it is most frequently sung today.

With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, Amazing Grace is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world. Author Gilbert Chase writes that it is without a doubt the most famous of all the folk hymns, and Jonathan Aitken, a Newton biographer, estimates that it is performed about 10 million times annually. 

It has had particular influence in folk music, and has become an emblematic African American spiritual. Its universal message has been a significant factor in its crossover into secular music. Amazing Grace saw a resurgence in popularity in the U.S. during the 1960s and has been recorded thousands of times during and since the 20th century, occasionally appearing on popular music charts.

More information: The John Newton Project

 Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch; like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

 

John Newton