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Post by Treecat on Jun 14, 2008 9:48:41 GMT -5
I know it's a dark song but I like it. For personal reasons I can identify with it. I listened to it again the other day (made sure no sharp objects were at hand and that I was in a cheery frame of mind to start with .....) and her vocal on this is beautiful. She sounds so young on it, as if it were recorded around the time of The Frog Prince, though I doubt it was. I know people can relate to songs like this, but this one is too much for me.
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Post by skyscape on Jun 14, 2008 12:21:27 GMT -5
I think the vocal is superb. I admit the song is depressing, but maybe that's because the lyric is in English an widely understood.
'S fágaim mo bhaile is ten times more depressing as a melody and the lyric is darker than anythibng Roma would have written in English, especially the last line "Níl ann ach an marbh"...'there is nothing but the dead'...(approximate translation)...
No wonder the bright and breezy ADWR had to follow this period! lol
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Post by riene on Jun 14, 2008 19:17:07 GMT -5
She does sound younger on it, yes. I think her accent is a bit more pronounced, the consonants a little softer.
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Post by Treecat on Jun 16, 2008 22:36:53 GMT -5
She does sound younger on it, yes. I think her accent is a bit more pronounced, the consonants a little softer. The earlier the song, the more pronounced her Irish accent. This is one reason why I think IMNA is from Shepherd Moons or even earlier -- Watermark. From TMOT on, her voice is much more mature, and Irish accent fades real fast.
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Post by skyscape on Jun 17, 2008 7:04:18 GMT -5
That's interesting that people can hear an Irish accent. I can't hear it, even in the earlier recordings!
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Post by Treecat on Jun 17, 2008 7:18:47 GMT -5
That's interesting that people can hear an Irish accent. I can't hear it, even in the earlier recordings! To my ears, there's an Irish accent. OTOH, I'm not Irish! I wonder if Enya's accent could have been affected by hearing more mainstream or neutral accents on tv and radio, in a way that her older sisters and brothers were not? Maybe she majored in piano and minored in elocution at that boarding school of her's? Maybe she ran into Henry Higgins, salmon fishing in Donegal? He bet his fishing buddy that he could rid 'the creature' of her 'loathsome' back country accent, and she could get a job in a shop? Enya's accent could have a topic all of its own!
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Post by riene on Jun 17, 2008 8:40:19 GMT -5
I suppose it's because we're contrasting the English we hear with the accented English she speaks. To me, there's a softening of the consonants and the occasional dropped "h"...as in "anyting" instead of "anything," and vowels that are...rounder? maybe? than our very flat vowels here. I'm not sure how to describe it, actually! It sounds quite different than British-accented English as well.
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Post by Treecat on Jun 17, 2008 9:19:36 GMT -5
That's a good description, Riene. Even now I occasionally here a sound like a softened "th", which I understand is dropped in Gaelic. That's more pronounced in this song and in earlier songs. Even in recent interviews (the A&E Breakfast with the Arts interview comes to mind) I've sometimes heard a softening or slurring of 'th' and other consonants, but it's much less now, to the point that I'm sure a lot of people who don't know her background might say, "She's Irish?"
I wonder if more exposure to radio and tv at a younger age than Maire, for instance, accounts for a more neutral accent from the beginning.
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Post by skyscape on Jun 17, 2008 11:09:49 GMT -5
I think Enya just worked on her accent to make it sound less accented and more neutral. It would be hard for anyone listening to Enya to place her on the map. Sometimes I think she sounds as if there is an English influence on her accent, and at other times I think she speaks her own hybrid language. Accents are very personal things...it's the accent she uses when she's roaring at Nicky with headphones on that might sound most Donegal TC is right....Enya's Mundart deserves a whole new thread!
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Post by Treecat on Jun 17, 2008 11:15:07 GMT -5
I think Enya jusy worked on her accent to make it sound less hick and more sophisticated. It's my understanding that with the Ryan's help she resumed piano studies after moving to Dublin. One is tempted to imagine Nicky and Roma enrolling their protege' in a slew of finishing school courses for Young Ladies Who Wish to Become World Stars. "Non-Bothy Accents for Young Ladies, 101"; "You and Your Fashion Designer 202"; "Makeup and Hair: the Very New You! 201" "Selecting and Renovating Small Stately Homes for Young Personages, 301" .... Not that I'm imagining anything of the sort! ;D
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Post by riene on Jun 17, 2008 12:06:37 GMT -5
;D Second semester: "Avoiding the Press 101," which must be taken before enrolling in "Not Answering Questions in Interviews 102."
Electives: "Grace and Deportment in Long Gowns," "Selecting Gifts for Japanese Interviewers."
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Post by jpanarese on Jun 17, 2008 15:24:26 GMT -5
I'll have to listen again, but I don't recall detecting an accent in this song. Some other songs, I can, but I don't remember noticing it in this one.
John
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Post by skyscape on Jun 18, 2008 6:54:58 GMT -5
I suppose some vestige of an Irish accent must be detectable in all of Enya's songs, most probably moreso in her earlier recordings. Although I think her accent is most keen in HCIKFS: - in this song we hear a lot of the 'th' sound being contracted to a 't'...in "t(h)rough all the tumult and the strife" etc...
Even when Enya speaks in Gaelic now she uses that odd inflection that is in her English now. I remember he TV interview on TG4 when she got the University of Ireland doctorate and whilst the words were pronounced in Gaoth Dobhair Irish the music of her accent has changed.
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Post by Treecat on Jun 25, 2008 8:22:28 GMT -5
Have been listening to Shepherd Moons again, and noticed that about HCIKFS-- the contracted th's. It's much more apparent on this song than any of the other early songs, even off Watermark. I wonder why it's so pronounced on this one?
In the TG4 interview, I noticed that she 'broke' her sentences more than other Irish speakers I've heard. There were hesitations between phrases. When I've heard Maire speak Gaelic, it runs, a continuous flowing stream of words. Enya's phrasing was very different.
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Post by skyscape on Jun 25, 2008 15:06:25 GMT -5
Have been listening to Shepherd Moons again, and noticed that about HCIKFS-- the contracted th's. It's much more apparent on this song than any of the other early songs, even off Watermark. I wonder why it's so pronounced on this one? In the TG4 interview, I noticed that she 'broke' her sentences more than other Irish speakers I've heard. There were hesitations between phrases. When I've heard Maire speak Gaelic, it runs, a continuous flowing stream of words. Enya's phrasing was very different. Very good observation TC. I noticed this also. Theory? Did Enya disconnect with Gaelic when she moved to board at Milford and when she moved to Dublin her opportunities for speaking the language were restricted. Even our mother tongues can grow rusty without practice. Theory 2? Perhaps Enya is hesitant in any language. Some people just don't flow. And shyness and performance anxiety will make anyone's words stick. My conclusion is that Enya is just a nervous speaker and that this presents in whichever language she speaks. I love that she said in the TG4 interview "Fuair mé guthán ó Nicky Ryan" (lit: I got a telephone from Nicky Ryan)
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