''Enya'' is the debut studio album by Irish singer, songwriter and musician

Enya Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (born 17 May 1961; anglicised as Enya Patricia Brennan) known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish singer and composer. With an estimated equivalent of over 80 million albums sold worldwide, Enya is the best-selli ...

, released in March 1987 by

BBC Records BBC Records was a division of the BBC founded in 1967 to commercially exploit the corporation's output for radio and television for both educational and domestic use. The division was known as BBC Radio Enterprises (1967–1970), BBC Records (1 ...

in the UK and by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

in the US. It was renamed as ''The Celts'' for the 1992 international re-release of the album by

WEA Records Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

in Europe and by

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...

in the US. The album features a selection of music that she recorded for the soundtrack to '' The Celts'', a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

documentary series about the origins, growth, and influence of Celtic culture. Four years into her largely unnoticed solo career, Enya landed her first major project in 1985 when producer Tony McAuley asked her to contribute a song for the project. It was well received by director David Richardson, who subsequently offered her to compose for the entire series. Enya worked with her longtime recording partners, producer and arranger

Nicky Ryan Nicholas Dominick Ryan (born 14 July 1946) is an Irish music producer, recording engineer, and manager. He is best known as the longtime business and recording partner for the singer, songwriter and musician Enya alongside his wife, poet and lyr ...

and his wife, lyricist

Roma Ryan Roma Shane Ryan (born 20 January 1950) is an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist, who lives in Killiney, Ireland, with her husband Nicky Ryan. She is the primary lyricist for the singer Enya, who has stated that the importance of the Ryans' cont ...

. Several track titles are titled or based on various historical and mythological figures and stories associated with the Celts, and established Enya's sound of keyboard-oriented music and layered vocals. "Boadicea" has been sampled by various artists, most notably in 1996 by

the Fugees ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

, in 2004 by

Mario Winans Mario Mendell Winans ( Brown; born August 29, 1974) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from South Carolina. An extended member of the Winans musical family, he is best known for his 2004 single " I Don't Wanna Know" (f ...

with P. Diddy and in 2022 by

Metro Boomin Leland Tyler Wayne (born September 16, 1993), known professionally as Metro Boomin, is an American record producer and music executive. Widely acclaimed for his dark and cinematic production style, he is regarded as one of the most influential p ...

. ''Enya'' received mostly mixed reviews from critics when it was initially released. It was a commercial success in Ireland, peaking at No. 8, and No. 69 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. "I Want Tomorrow" and " The Celts" were released as singles; the latter went to No. 29 in the UK. The album caught the attention of Warner chairman

Rob Dickins Rob Dickins (born July 1950, East Ham, London) is a British music industry executive, who currently holds a number of trustee and consultant positions in music and the arts in the United Kingdom. Dickins began his music industry career at Warner ...

, who signed Enya to the label. After the commercial success of her next two albums, ''Enya'' was reissued as ''The Celts'' and outperformed its original sales; it went to No. 10 in the UK and was certified Platinum in the UK and the US. In 2009, ''The Celts'' was reissued in Japan with a bonus track.

Background and recording

Following her work on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the romantic comedy film ''

The Frog Prince "The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" (, literally "The Frog King or the Iron Henry") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in Grimms' Fairy Tales, ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 1). Traditionally, it is the fir ...

'' (1985), Enya's first major project as a solo artist followed when, in 1985, she was invited by producer Tony McAuley to compose a track for his 1987

television documentary series '' The Celts''. As a coincidence, Enya had recorded a track named "March of the Celts" before she was asked to be involved, and decided to submit it to the project. Initially, each episode of the series was to feature a different composer, but series director David Richardson liked Enya's track so much, he commissioned her to compose the entire score. Enya worked with her usual recording partners, arranger and producer

and his wife, lyricist

. The album was recorded in two locations; at Aigle Studio, a

16-track Multitrack recording (MTR), also known as multitracking, is a method of sound recording developed in 1955 that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources or of sound sources recorded at different times to create a cohesive who ...

studio installed in the Ryans' home, then located in Artane, a northern suburb of

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, and a sound studio at

BBC Enterprises The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Wood Lane Wood Lane ( A219; formerly A40) is a street in London. It runs north from Shepherd's Bush, under the Westway (A40) past Wormwood Scrubs where it meets Scrubs Lane. The road is wholly in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham ( W12 posta ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. When they recorded at the BBC studio, Nicky had to teach the

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduc ...

s how he and Enya worked as their unusual recording process confused them at first. Nicky said he told them "to forget everything hey hadlearned and just bear with us for at least a week". One such example was Nicky's use of

reverb In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then decay as the sound is a ...

, which he set to 24 seconds instead of the more common placement of one-and-a-half seconds. A total of 72 minutes of music was recorded for the series. Roma recalled that Enya was given "various

pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...

s" that Richardson wished to incorporate into the episodes, which Enya then used as a guide for to write music to complement them. ''Enya'' includes 39 minutes of selected pieces from the soundtrack. The album's front cover depicts Enya posing with stuffed wolves.

Music and lyrics

Several of the album's track titles are titled or based on various historical figures and stories. In writing about the song in 2002, Roma pointed out that "Aldebaran" is named after the brightest star in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

Taurus Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to: * Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign ** Vṛṣabha, in vedic astrology * Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological ch ...

. In the

Arabic language Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, the title translates to "the follower" as it follows the

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Tau ...

cluster of stars, and the song is based on future

Celtic people The Celts ( , see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apogee of their influence and territorial expansion during the 4 ...

"passing Aldebaran on their journey to new territories, continuing their migratory pattern which was so predominant in their early history." The track was recorded in its entirety at Aigle Studio as Nicky expressed the difficulty in having to recreate the recording process elsewhere. "The Celts" was used as the main title theme for the television series. "Boadicea", which means "victorious", is a reference to the queen

Boudica Boudica or Boudicca (, from Brittonic languages, Brythonic * 'victory, win' + * 'having' suffix, i.e. 'Victorious Woman', known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh language, Welsh as , ) was a queen of the Iceni, ancient ...

of the British-Celtic

Iceni The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were an ancient tribe of eastern Britain during the British Iron Age, Iron Age and early Roman Britain, Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the ar ...

tribe in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

who led a resistance against the occupying forces of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

in 60 A.D., but was defeated and subsequently poisoned herself. As a song about her was already written, Richardson wished for a new track that depicted the idea of "being spellbound" by Boudica, which turned into "I Want Tomorrow". In the liner notes of the album's 1992 reissue, "I Want Tomorrow" is described, simply, as "thoughts of the present" and "March of the Celts" "echoes from the past". "Deireadh an Tuath", which translates from Irish as "End of the Tribe", refers to past spirits and the fertile soil that helps ensure the future of the Celtic people, which is celebrated in the annual

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

festival

Samhain Samhain ( , , , ) or () is a Gaels, Gaelic festival on 1 November marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the "Celtic calendar#Medieval Irish and Welsh calendars, darker half" of the year.Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, Ó hÓ ...

, held on 31 October. "The Sun in the Stream" was inspired by the legend of the

Salmon of Knowledge The Salmon of Knowledge () is a creature in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology, sometimes identified with Fintan mac Bóchra, who was known as "The Wise" and was once transformed into a salmon. Fenian Cycle The Salmon story figures prominent ...

, a creature written about in various texts in

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was originally Oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era. In the History of Ireland (795–1169), early medieval era, myths were ...

who "possessed all the truth in the world". "Fairytale" is a track based on a story of

early Irish literature Early Irish literature, is commonly dated from the 8th or 9th to the 15th century, a period during which modern literature in Irish began to emerge. It stands as one of the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe, with its roots extendin ...

about "love, jealousy, secrets and endurance" between

Midir In the Mythological Cycle of early Irish literature, Midir (Old Irish), Midhir (Modern Irish) or Mider was a son of the Dagda of the Tuatha Dé Danann. After the Tuatha Dé were defeated by the Milesians, he lived in the sidh of Brí Léith ...

, a fairy king, and his love for a princess,

Étaín Étaín or Édaín (Modern Irish spelling: Éadaoin) is a figure of Irish mythology, best known as the heroine of '' Tochmarc Étaíne'' (''The Wooing of Étaín''), one of the oldest and richest stories of the Mythological Cycle. She also fi ...

. In the story, Étaín is banished and transformed into a pool of water and emerges from it as a butterfly. "Epona" is the name of the horse goddess

Epona In Gallo-Roman religion, Epona was a protector of horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules. She was particularly a goddess of fertility, as shown by her attributes of a patera, cornucopia, ears of grain, and the presence of foals in some sculpture ...

of the

Gallo-Roman religion Gallo-Roman religion is a fusion of the traditional religious practices of the Gauls, who were originally Celtic speakers, and the Roman and Hellenistic religions introduced to the region under Roman Imperial rule. It was the result of selectiv ...

. "Triad" is a track formed of three sections; "St. Patrick" is a traditional song that refers to

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...

who spent six years in captivity after he was captured by the Celtic people. "St. Patrick" lyrics were adapted from ancient

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

"Deus Meus Adiuva Me". The second part, "Cú Chulainn", Irish for "hound of

Culann In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, Culann was a smith whose house was protected by a ferocious watchdog. Culann's hound was a pup of Celtchar's hound Dael, and he was found in the skull of Conganchnes mac Dedad along with two other pups ...

", is named after the

culture hero A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group (Culture, cultural, Ethnic group, ethnic, Religion, religious, etc.) who changes the world through invention or Discovery (observation), discovery. Although many culture heroes help with ...

Cú Chulainn Cú Chulainn ( ), is an Irish warrior hero and demigod in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore. He is believed to be an incarnation of the Irish god Lugh, who is also his father. His mother is the ...

. "Oisin", the final section, meaning "little

fawn A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family (biology), family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, a ...

", is based on the mythological character

Oisín Oisín (), Osian, Ossian ( ), or anglicized as Osheen ( ) was regarded in legend as the greatest poet of Ireland, a warrior of the Fianna in the Ossianic or Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology. He is the demigod son of Fionn mac Cumhaill and ...

. "Bard Dance" refers to the

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...

, a man of ancient Celtic times who entertained the king. "Dan y Dŵr", which translates to "Under the Water" in the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

, is based on the intentional flooding of the village of

Capel Celyn Capel Celyn was a rural community to the northwest of Bala in Gwynedd, Wales, in the Afon Tryweryn valley. The village and other parts of the valley were flooded in the Tryweryn flooding of 1965 to create a reservoir, Llyn Celyn Llyn ...

in Wales in order to accommodate a reservoir,

Llyn Celyn Llyn Celyn () is a reservoir constructed between 1960 and 1965 including the highly controversial Tryweryn flooding in the valley of the River Afon Tryweryn, Tryweryn in Gwynedd, Wales. This included the forcible removal of the Capel Celyn vil ...

Release

''Enya'' was released on audio cassette and vinyl in February 1987 by

the United Kingdom through

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

. The label was enthusiastic about the album and decided to release it three months before the series aired on television. The album was released in the United States by

, which categorised it as a

new age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

album and placed an imprint saying so on the disc, which Nicky Ryan later thought was "a cowardly thing to do". The album gained enough public interest to reach number eight on the

Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). The charts were previously compiled on behalf of IRMA by Chart-Track, and have been compiled by t ...

. In the United Kingdom, it entered the

at number 79 for the week of 6 June 1987, climbing to its peak of number 69 on its fourth and final week on the chart, the week of 27 June. Enya released "I Want Tomorrow" as a single on 9 March 1987 as a

7-inch In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

and compact disc with "The Celts" as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

. A

maxi single A maxi single, maxi-single, or maxi CD (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. Maxi singles are often mistaken for extended plays (EPs), especial ...

was also released with the aforementioned tracks and "To Go Beyond (I)" and "To Go Beyond (II)". Following the album's reissue in 1992, "The Celts" was released as a single on 2 November 1992 with "Eclipse", a previously unreleased track from the ''Enya'' sessions, as a B-side. Another unreleased track, "Spaghetti Western Theme from ''The Celts''", was released in 2005 as a B-side for Enya's 2005 single " Amarantine". It was released in memory of McAuley following his death in 2003. Filmmaker David Bickley reused music from the soundtrack in ''The Memory of Earth'', an instalment in his documentary trilogy ''Mythological Lands''. "Boadicea" was also used in the soundtrack of the 1992 American film '' Sleepwalkers''. "Epona" appears in the 1991

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for Steve Martin filmography, his work in comedy films, television, and #Discography, recording, he has received List of awards a ...

romantic comedy ''

L.A. Story ''L.A. Story'' is a 1991 American satirical romantic comedy film written by and starring Steve Martin and directed by Mick Jackson. The plot follows a weatherman (Martin) trying to find love in Los Angeles. It was released on February 8, 1991, ...

''.

1992 reissue

In 1992, after Enya gained worldwide commercial success with her albums ''

Watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations i ...

'' (1988) and ''

Shepherd Moons ''Shepherd Moons'' is the third studio album by Irish singer, songwriter and musician Enya, released on 4 November 1991 by WEA. After the unexpected critical and commercial success of her previous album ''Watermark'' (1988), Enya embarked on a ...

'' (1991) for

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

, ''Enya'' was remastered by Arun Chakraverty and redesigned with new artwork designed by Sooky Choi with photography by David Scheinmann. The album was reissued on 16 November 1992 as ''The Celts'' by WEA in Europe and

in the United States. ''The Celts'' outperformed its original sales, reaching a new peak of number 10 on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks from the week of 28 November 1992. It returned to the chart for two separate weeks in 1993, one week in 1996, and six consecutive weeks in 1998. In the United States, the album sold a further one million copies. It contains a new, longer version of the instrumental "Portrait" that is named "Portrait (Out of the Blue)", which was originally released (under the title "Out of the Blue") as the B-side to Enya's 1988 worldwide hit single, "

Orinoco Flow "Orinoco Flow", also released as "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)", is a song by Irish singer-songwriter Enya from her second studio album, ''Watermark'' (1988). It was released on 3 October 1988 by WEA Records in the United Kingdom and by Geffen Rec ...

". In 2009, ''The Celts'' had a limited Japanese reissue on Super High Material CD with "Eclipse" added as a bonus track.

Sampling of "Boadicea"

Enya's instrumental-humming piece "

Boadicea Boudica or Boudicca (, from Brythonic * 'victory, win' + * 'having' suffix, i.e. 'Victorious Woman', known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as , ) was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed up ...

" has been sampled by numerous artists.

The Fugees ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

sampled it for their song " Ready or Not" on ''

The Score The Score may refer to: Films and television * The Score (1978 film), ''The Score'' (1978 film), a 1978 Swedish film, released in Sweden as ''Lyftet'' * The Score (2001 film), ''The Score'' (2001 film), a 2001 crime drama film starring Robert De Ni ...

'' (1996). A lawsuit against the group for

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...

was prepared as they had not asked for permission and did not give her credit. However, after Enya confirmed that the group were "anti-crime and drugs and their message was quite positive", she decided not to follow through with the suit. As a compromise, later pressings of ''The Score'' included stickers placed on the cover giving Enya credit. On the 1999 album '' Astronomica'' by American heavy metal band

Crimson Glory Crimson Glory is an American heavy metal band that was formed in 1983 in Sarasota, Florida, USA. It started in 1979 under the name Pierced Arrow, then Beowulf, before settling on Crimson Glory. The classic line-up consisted of the vocalist Midn ...

, the intro track "March for Glory" is an interpretation of Enya's "Boadicea". In 2003, R&B artist

sampled "Boadicea" for his song "

I Don't Wanna Know "I Don't Wanna Know" is a song by American singer Mario Winans, featuring American rapper Sean Combs, P. Diddy and Irish singer Enya. The song is based on a sample of the Fugees' song "Ready or Not (Fugees song), Ready or Not", which in turn sam ...

". Producer P. Diddy personally contacted Enya for permission and gave her 60 percent of the royalties, and included her name on the song's subtitle as "Mario Winans featuring Enya and P. Diddy". It went on to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart in 2004. "Boadicea" was also sampled on the

answer song An answer song, response song or answer record is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer son ...

to "I Don't Wanna Know", "You Should Really Know" by the Pirates featuring

Shola Ama Shola Ama (born 8 March 1979) is a British singer from London, who scored her biggest hits with " You Might Need Somebody" (1997), a cover of Randy Crawford's 1981 hit, " You're the One I Love" and "Still Believe" (1999) which was one of the ...

Naila Boss Naila Boss is an English underground rapper from Hackney, London. Discography Singles * "It Can't Be Right" (2004) - UK No. 8 (with 2Play and Raghav) * "La La La" (2004) - UK No. 65 * "You Should Really Know" (2004) - UK No. 8 (with the Pirat ...

and Ishani, which peaked at number eight in the UK in 2004. "Boadicea" with "Ready or Not" was also sampled by R&B group

Nina Sky Nina Sky is a Puerto Rican-born musical duo based in the United States, consisting of identical twins Nicole and Natalie Albino. Their debut single "Move Ya Body", released from their Nina Sky (album), self-titled debut album in 2004, was a succ ...

on their single "Time to Go" featuring rapper

Angie Martinez Angela "Angie" Martinez (born January 9, 1971) is an American radio personality, podcaster, singer, former rapper and actress. Dubbed "The Voice of New York", Martinez is widely known for her 28-year run at New York City station WQHT, Hot 97 ( ...

, from the mixtape presented by

Cipha Sounds Cipha Sounds (born Luis Diaz; on April 19, 1976) is an American DJ, comedian, and radio and television personality of Puerto Rican descent. He is mostly known for his work as a DJ, a VJ for MTV, and as a comedian. Biography Radio career In 1 ...

. In 2008, Italian DJ Francesco Zeta sampled "Boadicea" for his song "Fairyland"; he made another version in 2012, subtitled "ReAmp", that also used the

hardstyle Hardstyle is an electronic dance music, electronic dance genre that emerged in the late 1990s, with origins in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. Hardstyle mixes influences from techno, new beat and Hardcore (electronic dance music genre), har ...

sample. In 2011, a small sample of "Boadicea" was used on "Der erste Winter" by German singer

Cassandra Steen Cassandra Steen (born 9 February 1980) is a German singer who rose to fame as the lead singer of the Pop music, pop/Soul music, soul trio Glashaus. After a series of commercially successful releases with the group, she released her moderately suc ...

for the album ''

Mir so nah ''Mir so nah'' () is the third studio album by German singer Cassandra Steen. It was released by Universal Music Urban on 29 April 2011 in German-speaking Europe. The album became Steen's second consecutive top ten album, peaking at number five ...

''. In 2012,

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

artist

Meek Mill Robert Rihmeek Williams (born May 6, 1987), known professionally as Meek Mill, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he embarked on his career as a battle rapper, and later formed a short-lived rap group the Blo ...

sampled "Boadicea" on his mixtape ''

Dreamchasers 2 ''Dreamchasers 2'' is the ninth mixtape by American rapper Meek Mill (hosted by DJ Drama). It was released on May 7, 2012, by Maybach Music Group and Warner Bros. Records, and also released for digital download on DatPiff. It serves as the secon ...

'' on a song named after the Fugees' song, "Ready or Not". In 2015, Masika Kalysha sampled the song on "Hella Hollywood". In 2016,

Salvatore Ganacci Emir Kobilić (), known professionally as Salvatore Ganacci (), is a Bosnian-Swedish DJ and record producer. His performances at Tomorrowland in 2018 and 2019 became viral. Early life Emir Kobilić was born in Sarajevo, SFR Yugoslavia, and m ...

's song "Dive" sampled "Boadicea", and Enya was credited as a featured artist. On

Nigerian-American Nigerian Americans (; ; ) are Americans who are of Nigerian ancestry. The number of Nigerian immigrants residing in the United States is rapidly growing, expanding from a small 1980 population of 25,000. The 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) ...

singer Rotimi's 2019 album ''The Beauty of Becoming'', he sampled the song on a track entitled "In My Bed", which also featured the rapper

Wale Wale or WALE may refer to: Places * Wale, Devon, a hamlet in England * Wale, Tomaszów Mazowiecki County, a village in Poland People * Wale (surname) *Wale (rapper), stage name of American rapper Olubowale Victor Akintimehin Radio and televisi ...

. In 2022, "I Don't Wanna Know" was covered in " Creepin'" by American record producer

, Canadian singer

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...

, and Atlanta-based rapper

21 Savage Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph (born October 22, 1992), known professionally as 21 Savage, is an American-British rapper. Born in London and raised in Atlanta, he began his recording career in 2013 and released three independent mixtapes to regiona ...

, and by proxy Enya is credited as a writer. In the same year, "Boadicea" was also used in "Enjoy That" by American singer

Akon Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-United States, American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. An influ ...

. The song is also featured in the

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

movie '' Sleepwalkers''. The series Snowfall featured Boadicea in the funeral scene for the character Jerome in the final season. On 22 July 2016, Bosnian-Swedish DJ

released the single "Dive", which heavily samples "Boadicea" and features vocals from Alex Aris. The single peaked number 14 on the US Billboard Dance/Electronic Digital Songs Sales chart.

Music videos

Technically, no music videos were released to promote the album. However, two episodes of ''The Celts'' featured music video-style interludes featuring Enya performing "I Want Tomorrow" and "Aldebaran". (A music video for "The Celts" would later be produced for the Warner Bros. reissue.)

Critical reception

A November 1987 review appeared in Australian newspaper ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' by Mike Daly. He compared the sound of the album to

Clannad Clannad () were an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal, by siblings , and (Moya) (in English, Brennan) and their twin uncles Noel and (Duggan). They have adopted various musical styles throughout their history. Beginn ...

following their shift in musical style in the early

1980s File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 335px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Space Shuttle Columbia, Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union, Soviet General Secretary of the Communist Party of ...

, "echoing, shimmering vocals and instrumentals". He questioned if it was "a beautiful, melodic example of New Age music, or perhaps New Folk?" Daly continued to pick out "I Want Tomorrow", "The Celts", "The Sun in the Stream", and "To Go Beyond (II)" as highlight tracks.

Track listing

All music composed by

; all music arranged by Enya and

; all lyrics by

, except where noted. The lyrics to "St. Patrick" adapted from the Irish hymn "Deus Meus, Adiuva Me" by Mael Ísu Ua Brolcháin, though it is credited as "Traditional".

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's 1987 and 1992 liner notes. Musicians * Enya – vocals, piano,

Roland Juno 60 The Roland Juno-60 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1982 and 1984. It followed the Juno-6, an almost identical synthesizer released months earlier. The Juno synthesizers introduced Roland's digitally controll ...

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E-mu Emulator II The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy-disk storage that was manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Although it was not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was innovative in its integration ...

, Kurzweil synthesiser *

Arty McGlynn Arty McGlynn (7 August 1944 – 18 December 2019) was an Irish guitarist born in Omagh, County Tyrone. In addition to his solo work, he collaborated with different notable groups such as Patrick Street, Planxty, Four Men and a Dog, De Dannan ...

–

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

Liam O'Flynn Liam O'Flynn, Óg Flynn (, 15 September 1945 – 14 March 2018) was an Irish people, Irish Uilleann pipes, uilleann piper and Folk music of Ireland, Irish traditional musician. In addition to a solo career and as a member of Planxty, O'Flynn re ...

–

Uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ), also known as Union pipes and sometimes called Irish pipes, are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the ...

* Patrick Halling –

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

Production * Enya – arrangement *

– arrangement, production, engineer on "Aldebaran" and "March of the Celts" * Nigel Read – engineer (all other tracks) * Mario Moscardini – sleeve design, art direction * Martyn J. Adleman – photography * David Scheinmann – photography (1992 reissue) * Sooky Choi – designer (1992 reissue) * Arun Chakraverty – mastering (1992 reissue) * Bruce Talbot – executive producer * Sam Feldman – remastering at

Atlantic Studios Atlantic Studios is the recording studio network of Atlantic Records. Although the historic recording studio was located at 1841 Broadway (at the corner of 60th Street), in New York City, Atlantic Recording Studios was initially located at 234 Wes ...

, New York City

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1987 debut albums 1987 soundtrack albums 1992 albums Enya soundtracks Television soundtracks Reprise Records albums BBC Records albums Atlantic Records albums Warner Music Group albums 1980s in Irish music