Enya

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Paris_Blues

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I got the new Enya CD for Christmas (I LOVE her music). I heard that she is under the category New Age music. I guess my question is, is it all to listen to her kind of music because I hear all this stuff about staying away from New Age stuff?

STOP! Don’t think I’m being scrupulous. Just a question!👋
 
I have a ton of Enya, and I use it namely for relaxation’s sake, and that I enjoy her kind of music. It doesn’t make me want to haul off and join a New Age movement, so unless it does that to you; I think you’re good.

Just my :twocents:.
 
New Age music and New Age religion or phychology are two different things. The genre of music is not always the most important thing compard to what the subject matter is and whether it gives glory to God. More often than not New Age music is relaxing, melodic, and ambient, and often it can lend itself to contemplation/reflection/etc. Unless there is a real New Age religion agenda behind the music, then I think you’re fine.
 
I like Enya’s music. I find this to be much more soothing & relaxing then “Chant” which after a few minutes is like chewing tin foil for me. 😛
 
Enya’s music can also sometimes be found under “folk music” in stores, or “world music” or “Celtic music.” “New Age” music is sometimes a catch-all for music that clerks can’t figure out how to classify. Don’t worry!

'thann
 
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thann:
Enya’s music can also sometimes be found under “folk music” in stores, or “world music” or “Celtic music.” “New Age” music is sometimes a catch-all for music that clerks can’t figure out how to classify. Don’t worry!

'thann
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You’re right! I haven’t really heard this new album / CD only excerpts, but I know I’ll be getting it since I have most of her music.
 
Enya was once a traditional Irish musician who sang with her family in a band called “Clannad”. They started out singing tradtional Irish (Celtic) music and then began to adapt traditional music to sound more “mystical” as soundtracks for the BBC’s Robin Hood series. I tend to think of her music as modern Celtic influenced music.

And as for the Chant album: for shame! Troy, I have sung Gregorian chant all my life. I cannot begin to tell you how many term papers I have written nor how many calligraphed manuscripts I have completed listening to chant (including the Chant album). No, it is not going to “zone you out”. But I mentally and sometimes vocally sing with the good monks. It drastically affects my concentration in a very positive way. You need to think of chant as the breath of God, rising and falling, rising and falling.
 
I “NEED” to think of it as the breath of God? :rolleyes:

I am glad its helpful for YOU. But for me, its nails on a chalkboard, chewing tinfoil, thats what it does for me after a minutes. I dont like it and dont have to like just cause its considered holy music. I’ll take Enya over the monks “chanting” any day. 😉
 
If it bothers you that much, buy Maire/Moya Brennan–it’s Enya’s sister (also formerly of Clannad), but her stuff is all Christian these days.
 
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Troy7:
I “NEED” to think of it as the breath of God? :rolleyes:

I am glad its helpful for YOU. But for me, its nails on a chalkboard, chewing tinfoil, thats what it does for me after a minutes. I dont like it and dont have to like just cause its considered holy music. I’ll take Enya over the monks “chanting” any day. 😉
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Just trying to be helpful, Troy, just trying to be helpful. And, no, you don’t have to like it just like I don’t have to like sacro-pop. But whereas sacro-pop has its roots in the late 60s and early 70s, I believe it is essential for Catholics to understand that chant has over a thousand years of history behind it and the gently rising and falling rhythms have often been remarked as the breath of God. OK, since you like Enya and I am a huge fan of Celtic music, have you ever listened to the “new age” chants of Hildegard von Bingen. I’d give you the exact album but my oldest son “borrowed” it and has never returned it. Go to Amazon and look under Hildegard von Bingen. It might give you a new appreciation of chant.
 
Troy: Go to amazon.com and listen to the track “Praise for the Mother” on the album Visions. Also note that one of the albums of Hildegard von Bingen’s chants is entitled “Feather on the Breath of God”. I really am not making this up - just trying to expand your horizons.
 
Not…into…chants…as a form of christian music. Even though I am Catholic, when I want to feed my soul with holy music, I perfer GOSPEL.

Peace in the Valley
Amazing Grace
How Great thou Art
Somebody bigger than you and I
Where did they go lord
Swing Low Sweet Chariot…
Were you there when they crucified my lord

and a host of others that speak to me and tell a great story thru music.

There is very few “Catholic” music that appeals to me.
And I detest and abhor christian pop music.
 
This is kinda off topic but I have sung in a cathedral choir and we have sung some of the hymns you have suggested and others “Mary had a Baby” “There is a Balm in Gilead” and others. Here in south Louisiana we have a very high percentage of African American Catholics whose Gospel choirs are well known and have sung for JPII. Just before Katrina hit, a composer in New Orleans wrote a Creole Mass which included elements of Gospel, Ragtime and Dixieland. It was filmed in St. Louis Cathedral but has not been recorded as yet (for obvious reasons). So, yeah, Gospel can be “Catholic” music.
 
Enya has the voice of an angel.

I normally listen to groups like Hootie & the Blowfish, Goo Goo Dolls, 3 Doors Down and the like. But I also have most of Enya’s CDs.

About five years ago I was in the hospital for 12 weeks with a severe infection. On top of that I was having anxiety attacks that we only learned later were medication induced. During those attacks the only thing I found that could calm me down was playing one of her CDs.

I haven’t noticed a lot of New Age philosophy in her lyrics. Some are even clearly Christian influenced. The song “How can I keep from singing” is an example. She also has another song with these lyrics
Give me your love,
true Son of God.
Give me your strength,
the clear bright sun.
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I would not be bothered about the “New Age” label to Enya’s music. That’s just a marketing convenience.

Some years ago, I heard a discussion about modern music on a Catholic radio talk show, and the guest authority mentioned that Enya was a good Catholic woman who sings in her choir at church. I have no personal knowledge, but as someone else posted, we know that her sister primarily sings “Christian music” and was featured at a recent World Youth Day.
 
Hi folks! Enya and her sister Maire are Irish musicians. Their whole family was once a traditional Irish group called Clannad. I have followed Clannad since the 70’s. Yep, they’ve been around for a long, long time. The “new age” stuff started in the 80s when they composed music for a really, really neat BBC production about Robin Hood. I still have the vinyl LP from that series. “Mystical” music is part and parcel of our Catholic heritage. I can refer you to CDs which are adaptations of mystical hymns composed by Hildegard Von Bingen. Shoot, I can refer you to my own choir singing “Jesu Dulcis Memoria” with handbells and it will sound mystical. What is going on? We long for the sense of entering in he mystical. We long for the presence of and sense of God. I submit to you that you will not find God in praise bands. Just my opinion.
 
There are two types of New Age music: the bad kind and the good kind. The bad kind is of the New Age religions… all the New Age things one can think of incorporated into music. The other, is simply music, no more and no less. In fact, my favorite music is New Age music (the good kind, of course). Yanni, Enya (is okay), David Lanz… I have actually played their music pieces on the piano for years, and I’m thinking about composing New Age music myself (though doing it alone will not be easy… Still, I’d give my whole life to praise God in such a way… through creating such breath-taking music). I’m completely against New Age religions even when it is in musical form. However, “New Age” is a term used for many soft instrumental & vocal music created since the early 80’s. Such music should really be called “Beautiful music” rather than “New Age music”, because such a label gives the wrong impression…
 
As has already been noted by other replies, Enya is often classified as New Age, though she doesn’t agree with this label. Enya is a devout Catholic, and Christian themes are often found in her music.
 
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