1.3 Clannad and afterward (Enya)
Description
This article is from the Enya FAQ, by Kevin Martin enyafaq@brasscannon.org with numerous contributions by others.
1.3 Clannad and afterward (Enya)
Pádraig Ó Dugáin (Patrick Duggan) and Noel Ó Dugáin (Noel Duggan) are
Eithne's uncles. Ciarán Ó Braonáin (Ciaran Brennan) and Pól Ó Braonáin
(Paul Brennan) are her brothers. In 1968 they formed the band An Clann As
Dobhair* and began to perform traditional Irish music at festivals.
*Pronounced "an Clannador" (approximately); "The Family from Dore"
Changing their name to Clannad, and recruiting sister Maire in 1973, the
band went on to international success performing both traditional and
original material.
After leaving school Eithne joined Clannad in 1980 and, credited under her
real name, provided keyboards and (mostly) backing vocals. She appears
without a credit on their 1980 album "Crann_Ull", and, properly credited,
on "Fuaim" (1982).
(Mike Hoffman reports that Enya's first TV appearance was on "Sunday,
Sunday with Gloria Hunniford" in 1980.)
For a while Clannad was on the Tara Music label, and the web site at
http://www.taramusic.com/clannad.htm has pictures of Eithne as a member
of Clannad.
Two other songs taped during this period were not released until 1996,
when they appeared on a compilation album called "Celtic Folk Festival"
according to a report in the newsgroup.
In 1982 Clannad split with their long time manager and producer Nicky Ryan.
Nicky had some theories about acoustics, and found in Eithne the perfect
artist to explore them. Eithne in turn found the painstaking production
process that Nicky required was a perfect match for her temperament and
skills. Eithne left Clannad and moved to Dublin to live with Nicky and
his wife Roma.
In 1983 Eithne recorded the instrumental pieces "An Ghaoth On Ghrian (The
Solar Wind)" and "Miss Clare Remembers" which were released the following
year on a compilation album titled "Touch_Travel". Fachtna O'Kelly, who
had been Clannad's manager, was acquainted with the partners at the label
and brought Eithne's music to their attention.
Film producer David Puttnam heard some demonstration tapes sent to him
by Roma Ryan. He commissioned Eithne to write music for his film "The"
"Frog_Prince", a romantic comedy set in France, which was released in
1984. "A young British girl journeys to Paris to go to college, and is
determined to find the man of her dreams and fall madly in love. However,
things don't work out quite the way she planned." -- from the Internet
Movie Database, <http://http://imdb.com/title/tt0087300/>
In the end only a few of her pieces were used and these were arranged and
performed by others. The film was released as "The_French_Lesson" in the
US. (On the soundtrack album, re-released in 1995, there are two vocal
tracks, performed by Enya, which did not appear in the film.)
The titles on "The_Frog_Prince" credit music to Enya Ni Bhraonain, and so
the transition from 'Eithne' to 'Enya' began.
In 1986 BBC-TV began work on a six part documentary series charting the
history and continuing cultural influence of the Celts. Enya was signed to
write and perform music for the series. "The_Celts" was first shown in 1987
and a selection of its music released under the title "Enya", giving the
artist her first album, though it went largely unnoticed at the time.
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