A Day in the Life of - Enya
Ana McFerrin
Sunday Times (UK) Colour Supplement1992
Enya, Irish singer and composer, talks
to Ann McFerrin.
Photograph of Enya standing in the doorway of a
balcony, with trees, a town and water in the background. Caption: Born
Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, Enya, 30, is the fifth of nine children. After
boarding school in Donegal she joined her elder brothers and sisters
in the band Clannad, and later left to explore her own writing and recording,
together with lyricist Roma Ryan and Ryan's producer/husband Nicky.
Enya's first album, Watermark (1988) sold almost 1 million copies
in the UK alone. Her second album, Shepherd Moons (1991), has
sold over 4 million worldwide; 'Book of Days', from the album, is the
theme for the Tom Cruise film Far and Away. Enya lives alone
in Killiney, outside Dublin.
"I've always been very private and shy, even though
I have four brothers and four sisters. I need a lot of space and time
to myself, so I live alone. Thinking is important. During the night
I'll go through the day before and the one to come, so it can be restless.
But dreams can be comforting, particularly when I dream about my grandparents.
They're dead, but they were always there when I was young, advising
what was best. If I've been dreaming about my grandparents, I'll have
a good, positive day.
"A lot of people say 'Oh my God, the weather!'
when they wake up. Bad weather doesn't bother me. In Donegal, where
I grew up, it was often grey and cold from one end of the day to the
other.
"If I'm working in the studio, I'll be out of bed
by 9.30 or 10. I enjoy being at the right place at the right time. I
enjoy the event. Even if it's breakfast by myself, I'll set the
table. I'll have a good breakfast - eggs, any way except fried because
I have a little trouble with my stomach; tea, in a proper pot with an
infuser. I drink it without milk and sugar, because as a child I gave
up sugar for Lent one year, then milk the next, and I just carried on.
"Although I don't go to church any more, being
Catholic is something I'll always have; the spiritual side is comforting.
In a difficult moment I'll say a prayer, and when there's a lot of stress
and tension around me I'll sit in a church and think things out in the
silence.
"I enjoy clothes. My favourite designers are Jasper
Conran and John Galliano. I like the drama of clothes. If I had the
time I'd change my clothes three times a day, and arrange each outfit
down to the last detail.
"Until I was 18 I had my hair long, down to my
waist. One day I decided to cut it off. My hair is very fine and it
suits me to have it layered in a soft fashion. Last year I grew it for
a while. I didn't realise it at the time but it was making me unhappy.
My hairdresser kept saying 'Bear with it', but in the end I couldn't,
so she cut it short again. I remember being so happy that day; suddenly
all my clothes made sense again.
"I try to take care of my skin. I take one morning
off a month to have a Cathiodermie, a French facial. The way I sit in
the studio gives me terrible, terrible pains across my neck and shoulders,
so after my facial I have a back massage as well.
"I walk for 20 minutes to the studio, or take a
taxi if I'm late. The three of us work all day with endless cups of
tea. We do have a break at lunchtime but I don't eat anything too heavy
- a sandwich perhaps - as it slows you down too much.
"When I'm composing I'm very open, voicing some
emotion deep within me - anger, happiness. So composing is a way of
releasing my emotions. But in the studio I'm very different. I'm a typical
Taurus - stubborn and demanding. If things aren't going well it destroys
me, and that's difficult for Nicky and Roma.
"Nicky and I have tremendous arguments. They're
quite awful - shouting, everything. And sometimes there's no work for
days afterwards. But when we come back to the studio we've regained
our confidence.
"Until I began to travel I wasn't aware of how
important being Irish was for my composing and my everyday life. I dream
in Gaelic; I think in Gaelic; I count in Gaelic. In an intense moment
in the studio I'll forget myself and blurt out something in Gaelic.
Speaking Gaelic, and particularly singing Gaelic, all the words, the
emotions, come very naturally. Sometimes when I'm trying to translate
from Gaelic I can't find the English word - it just doesn't go so deep.
"Speaking Gaelic has a lot to do with Irish Culture.
Growing up in Gweedore in Donegal in the Gaeltacht (Gaelic speaking)
area, I took it for granted as a child, but now I'm more interested
than ever in Gaelic and Gaelic literature. Twenty years ago people were
afraid to be heard speaking Gaelic, because it meant that you came from
the countryside, and not speaking English was felt to be shaming. But
that's changed now.
"Some people think I'm very melancholy. I'm not,
but my melodies are. I sense this melancholy in traditional Irish songs
- their great passion - because they deal with emigration or the loss
of a loved one; so many Donegal fishermen died at sea. Once I've finished
an album I just cut the ribbon and don't listen to it, but recently
when an album was played during a live radio interview I was moved to
tears.
"I don't take anything for granted. Every day your
level of success goes down. You have to earn success - sweat for it.
But if you give your best you'll be happy at least. When I finish an
album depression sets in and I go home. Donegal is so important to me.
It's wild and very beautiful, but it's also home, where my parents live.
They're very understanding; they know I don't want to talk about my
work. They won't know about my music until they're handed the latest
CD or album. After Shepherd Moons I took myself off for hours
climbing a mountain I hadn't climbed since childhood. Gweedore isn't
a village but a parish, so the houses are scattered and you get a great
sense of space.
"After a bad day in the studio I'm dark and difficult
to be with; I'll want to be on my own. On a good day I'll phone everyone
up. I don't have a record collection. The music I like best is silence.
I grew up in a large and noisy family - continual hustle and bustle
and crying and chaos - but the day that everybody went off and left
me on my own was such a treat.
"If I can I'll walk in Killiney; it's another way
of unwinding, especially after the studio when my head is full of melodies.
Walking stops the music dictating how I feel. I used to sacrifice a
lot of my social life to music. It would be too devastating to break
off from working with Nicky at six o'clock. I've always avoided relationships,
but the moment I'm in one - a long-distance relationship which is well
suited to me. I think he understands how much I need my space.
"I have dinner at around seven. I love food , but
I don't eat red meat; it's too rich for me. Sometimes I like to get
dressed up and go to a restaurant, to talk and listen to someone else;
that takes you out of yourself. I love children's company. Last January
I became an aunt twice in one week. That made me think about having
children of my own. I think I'd enjoy it.
"I enjoy night-time because it's my time - it's
so peaceful. Even when I'm travelling, no matter how late I'm working,
I must have some hours to myself. I love having baths. First I lie on
my Japanese massage bed; it has rollers which heat up and come rolling
under your body. I do that for about 10 minutes before stepping into
the Jacuzzi.
"I'll spend about an hour or so on my book of days
- a diary - which I've kept since boarding school. On occasions I'll
pick up a particular date and I'll read back to what I was doing this
time last year, and two years back, and relive those moments and think,
'My God! Wow! It feels like yesterday.' During a difficult time I think,
'This isn't as bad as that time.'
"While travelling in the East I bought a lot of
silk dressing gowns, pyjamas and nightdresses, so I enjoy dressing for
bed.
"At about 1.30 or 2 a.m. I finally decide I must go
to sleep if I'm going to make sense of tomorrow. If I'm calm I can lie
there quite peacefully, but if something's bothering me, it goes round
and round in my head. There's a church next to my house and I'll listen
to the bells tolling the hours and the half-hours. I'll get up two or
three times to check things. Eventually I'll get back into bed because
tomorrow is another day and I know I'll have to work."
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Book of Days Note: I'm not sure if this is the photograph that accompanied the A Day in the Life article, but it matches the description. Until otherwise notified, I'll let this stand as the photo that went with this article.
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