Enya - Shepherd Moons 30th Anniversary Watch Party

Enya - Shepherd Moons 30th Anniversary Watch Party

Join the Enya team at Warner's in celebrating the Shepherd Moons 30th anniversary. This very special Shepherd Moons watch party will take you on a journey reminiscing about the album, running through each track on the album, official music videos plus more!

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Enya was born Eithne Ni Bhraonain in Donegal, Ireland. Enya studied classical music at college under private tuition. On leaving college she was asked by Producer Nicky Ryan to join her siblings in their family band. She did so for a short time, but found it too restrictive musically, and so in 1982 she joined Nicky Ryan and Roma Ryan in a creative and business partnership. Enya's first commission was to write a score for Sir David Puttnam for his film "The Frog Prince". Then, the triumvirate secured the soundtrack to the BBC documentary series 'The Celts'. Enya was then signed by Warner Music and all three by EMI Music Publishing. The first album of this contract was "Watermark" with the hit single "Orinoco Flow". This was followed by "Shepherd Moons", "The Memory of Trees", "Paint the Sky With Stars", "A Day Without Rain" which produced the single, "Only Time".

#Enya #ShepherdMoons

[enyatv]

Caribbean Blue

As with a lot of the songs I find that there are several threads that come together to create the lyrics. Sometimes the ideas behind them can be completely opposed to one another. This was the case with Caribbean Blue. The first thread was the idea that it is much easier to imagine a beautiful place on a rainy day than to imagine a dreary one, for it is often forgotten that one may create something good merely be thinking it so. A day-dream is as rich a gift as any. Like Afer Ventus, the wind from Africa, or Eurus, the east wind, Boreas from the north or the gentle Zephyrus, the imagination is free and can choose and create its own journey. As with all dreams we reach for the ideal, and Caribbean Blue represents such an ideal.


The second thread came from my favourite Aesop fable. It tells the story of a journey that an old man made, with his young son and their donkey. Everyone they met on that journey had an opinion on how the man, his son and the donkey should travel and, no matter what they did, someone complained about it. If the man rode the donkey they were criticized, if the boy rode the donkey they were criticized, if both rode the donkey they were criticized. If neither rode the donkey – yes – you’ve guessed it – they were criticized! They could not please everyone. In fact, they could not please anyone. You have your own journey to make, so make it the best you can. Live your life and learn by your mistakes. Trust your own judgement. Find out what’s important to you. Life is short. In the end you need to find out for yourself how blue the sky is!

[musiccollection]

We pray for peace, love, healing and comfort for everyone here watching this video! Have a blessed day! 🙏🥰💕🥰💕

[enyatv]

Angeles

At times we ask for extraordinary things to happen in our lives and somehow, deep down, we believe they will. Someone, somewhere, may have the power to help us – a Guardian angel perhaps, or a spiritual minder, a protector from life’s darker moments. Such a belief can be a comfort in life, an easy relationship with a world beyond our own. A gentle hand on your shoulder to guide you through, though not away from, the harder times.

[LaraHarker]

Years ago i had a rough time in my life and decided to end it all. While awaiting for the chosen method to finally kick in i was listening to Enya and Loreena Mckennit. I was so surreally calm and happy, i realized that i didnt wanted to die, i wanted to live in peace and serenity and to not feel pain anymore. I was able to call for help and save myself.
Still healing and doing lots of inner work.
Thank you Enya for giving us this music. Maybe without its beauty that made me come back from the irreversible, i wouldnt be here.

[enyatv]

No Holly for Miss Quinn

A partner piece to Miss Clare remembers on Watermark. This title is another Miss Reid story. Yet the real story behind the idea is a memory by Enya of her home as a child. Here, on the plain of the winds, holly trees did not thrive. Yet, Enya found a young sapling, struggling on the hillside. It is one of those moments we all experience, when something touches our heart. She felt an affinity with this small tree, blown by the winds, struggling to get a footing. Each time she went walking she would check on the little tree.

Once, a small holly tree strived, but in a storm, it was lost.
Hence, the title of the book evoked this memory for Enya.

[juliusseguya]

Thank you for being a guiding light to the world, you're heaven sent.

[enyatv]

How can I keep from singing?

At the time we recorded this song, we had thought it to be an old shaker hymn. The shakers did sing this song, but it was written in 1846 I believe, by Robert Lowry (1826-1899) who was a Baptist minister and a prolific hymn-writer. One of the reasons we had chosen to arrange this piece was because the Shakers, among others, had sent aid to Ireland during the Famine in the 1840’s. It is amazing that aid was sent to Ireland from many parts of the world, from Venezuela to Russia, from the Caribbean to the Ottoman Empire. It is one of the most wonderful strengths we humans have; that we can help each other in the hour of need. One particularly touching act was from the Choctaw Nation. They themselves had suffered greatly, having walked what is known as ‘The Trail of Tears’. Even though they had just come through this great ordeal they actually sent donations to Ireland in an attempt to relieve the suffering. Today, Ireland and the Choctaw nation still recognize this close bond between them, and have both participated in each other’s remembrance walks.

[maxscripten_ua]

Thank Уou for your singing with the same pure expressive words as the water of mountain streams and the singing of birds

[enyatv]

Evacuee

I remember her face. She told of how she had been an evacuee during the Second World War. As she told her story she began to cry like the little girl she had been half a century before. The pain of her separation from her parents registered with immediacy on her face. As a child she could not understand why she had to leave them, and the effect of this stayed with her. The only hope she had as a child was a promise that they would all be together again. It is a great sadness that even today in this world of ours, on our tiny planet, children still endure that same separation.

[hiroyoa.]

I remember listening to this music crying in bed at night many years ago. Now I'm in the middle of another phase of life's challenge and I will cry to sleep listening to this all over again. I'm not crying because her music makes me sad. It heals me and allows me to cry. Thank you Enya.

[enyatv]

Marble Halls

Once again, we have several threads coming together which dictated this choice of track. This aria is from the opera “The Bohemian Girl” by the Irish composer Michael William Balfe with the libretto by Alfred Bunn. It is an opera loosely based on the writing of Cervantes, he of “Don Quixote” fame. Cervantes also wrote a novella in 1613, which included La Gitanella (The little gypsy girl). It was this story that The Bohemian Girl was based upon. The aria is a favourite of Enya’s mother. Hence we see the first thread. The Bohemian Girl was first performed in London in 1843, and in Dublin the following year. Now to the second thread – my mother performed this aria on stage when she was young! Unfortunately, there are no recordings of that stage production. Although she crossed over when my siblings and I were all young, I still remember her wonderful voice, I still remember her singing.

[billyedsatiristry]

Shepard Moons proved Enya wasn't just some one-time serendipity. She had staying power and endless originality. Caribbean Blue was the first song I ever heard that I thought of as a "sonic fabric". Still gives chills to this day.

[enyatv]

BOOK OF DAYS (GAELIC)

When looking at a book of days for each new year that approaches, I continue to be intrigued by the possibilities of each blank page – what will it hold? I experience a mixture of sadness and exuberance when I think of lives laid out on a page or in a book. Personal histories of great loves, of journeys exotic and wonderful, of loss, fear and tragedy, of dreams and simple wishes. I shall do this same meditation this year as the New year dawns. I shall be looking back at what has already been written and looking forward to what could be.

It your life could be written as a book, what words would you choose? If your stories could be told, what stories would you tell?

[marcob]

This is an incredible gift from Enya and Roma! I have no words to express my gratefullness. Wonder still happens in this world !

[enyatv]

Afer Ventus

The moment experienced when everything in life suddenly makes sense – when everything fits into place and we know why – is a rare moment, but it does happen. If we are lucky enough we can bathe in the brevity of that moment, for it passes as quickly as it arrives. Like Joyce’s epiphanies, they can sometimes seem trivial, but are always crucial and revealing moments in our lives, delicate and fleeting. In Afer Ventus it is those moments of pure enlightenment which are described.

[JonahJojoTheMan]

I remember when I heard this album for the first time, in a friend's store, I was paralyzed. When I heard Caribbean Blue next, I cried. I never understood why. All I know is that I bought the album, told him "it's wonderful" and went home.
Even today I get goosebumps and my eyes get teared. It's still a unique experience.

[enyatv]

Ebudae

This title is an ancient name for the archipelago is the modern-day Hebrides, the inner and outer islands that lie of the coast of Scotland. It has been given many names throughout the ages. The Romans, who travelled north to find it, referred to it as Ebudae, and spoke of the fact that were many, many islands - so many they could not count them. The Norse meanwhile referred to them in the opposite manner - as the Southern Isles. Innse Gall is the Scots Gaelic name for the islands. The islands themselves have names that reflect the various stages in their history which was influenced not only by the Norse, but also by England and Ireland. I have an old atlas of ancient maps in which one can still find the name Ebudae printed beside these isles.

[muumarlin]

She is not of this world. Her music is infinitely special. Truly one of a kind.

[enyatv]

Smaointe

The story at the beach at Machaire Gathlan (The plain of the Shelter).
Many years past a great wave swept onto the land, crashing down upon the small church and graveyard, which stood close to the shoreline. It destroyed the church. All who were in it that day perished. It is in this same graveyard that Enya’s grandparents are buried. Enya often talked to me of how she could see the graveyard as she walked along the shores of Machaire Gathlan, and of how she felt her grandparents were watching over her and guiding her still. Memories of her childhood and days spent with them come to Enya when she walks there, memories which she will treasure always. I wrote Smaointe in response to these reflections. This word translated, means ‘thoughts’.

[rynbw]

02:19 Shepherd Moons
06:05 Caribbean Blue
09:45 How Can I Keep From Singing
13:00 Ebudae
14:57 Angeles
18:58 No Holly for Miss Quinn
21:43 Book of Days
24:38 Evacuee
28:26 Lothlorien
30:33 Marble Halls
34:29 Afer Ventus
38:35 Smaointe
44:43 Book of Days (Gaelic)
47:17 As Baile
51:20 Oriel Window