Enya
Long Long Journey
City lights shine on the harbor
Night has fallen down
Through the darkness and the shadow
I will still go onLong Long Journey
Through the darkness
Long Long way to go
But what are miles across the ocean to the heart that’s coming home?Where the road runs through the valley
Where the river flows
I will follow every highway
To the place I know
I first came to know about Enya through YouTube music search algorithms recommendation. I remember vividly, it was during my first semester of university in 2017 that I listened to my first Enya song.
It coincided with one of the toughest times of my life. Back then, I was facing difficulties adapting to a new environment and finding my path in life. I struggled with a much more intense curriculum and expectations at university. My bachelors’ major at university is Computer Science and prior, I had zero clue or experience with computer programming. I was not very tech-inclined and did not have much interest in keeping up with the latest trends. All these factors added up, I struggled to keep up in my course.
Growing up, I had always thought that hard work would translate into good results. As someone who performed relatively well in my studies all along, I struggled to understand how my hard work was not translating into results. In the game of catch-up that I had to play where most of my peers were already very familiar with programming and knew how to piece everything we learned in class together, I felt like a lost bird. No matter how much social time I sacrificed with my family and friends just so I could dedicate all my waking hours to studying and completing assignments week after week, I failed to perform well in exams. For most of the exams, apart from the mathematics courses I had to take, I barely passed. I was seeing myself at the 25th percentile of the bell curve for a lot of my exams and this caused me a lot of stress. I grew frustrated with my capabilities and doubted my intellect. I cried almost every other day and at the same time, could not find anyone to confide my worries and troubles to. I felt like I was all alone in a labyrinth, struggling to breathe but still had to put up a falsely positive image to hide the turbulence that was raging inside me.
It was during such a difficult time, that I found solace in Enya’s music. Her New-Age genre music brought me comfort and I felt transported into another era where nothing except inner peace with oneself mattered. Her music was very inspiring and brought me companionship in such times of loneliness and intense struggle. It was for the first time in my life that I understood how much of impact music can have on a soul. Growing up, I was not very musical. I always thought that music existed solely for entertainment and had not much value in terms of spiritual nourishment. Hence, I did not listen to music frequently. But my encounter with Enya’s music changed my mind and it opened up another window of light for my soul. I was able to experience my soul being uplifted after listening to her music and they brought me a lot of comforts.
One thing I admire about Enya is her commitment to her music. She hardly grants interviews (except for a few) and never goes on tours to promote her newly launched albums. It is her staunch belief that her music should speak for themselves and she prefers to be kept in the background. To her, it should always be about her music and not about her. Enya does not chase fame, unlike many musicians.
Despite her low profile, Enya is one of the highest-paid musicians in Ireland and the UK. Throughout her career, she has won 4 Grammy awards and nominated for five other more. This is remarkable given that she doesn’t go on promotional tours and only releases an album once every few years. In fact, even she herself admits that she is a slow composer and likes to take her time in perfecting and composing her music.
It is my opinion that Enya is truly dedicated to her craft. It is this trait of hers that makes her so genuine and rare and has won her many fans over the world. I appreciate and respect her very much for this.
Below are some beautiful soundtracks titles composed by Enya that I would like to share:
Long Long Journey
So I Could Find My Way
Only Time
Caribbean Blue
Anywhere Is
Echoes in Rain
Listen to the Rain
