But when she pronunces her real name, the extremely difficult Eithne Ni Bhraonain, her face enlightens with a wonderful smile: and it almost seems that centuries over centuries of national history melt in those phoneme so icicly far from normal comprehensibility.
But she is the first to admit that if she had kept her authentical data she would hardly have reached the worldwide success she's acclaimed of.
Just for this reason, a dacade a go, when she left the Clannad - her previous band, as to say one of the most famous of the Emerald Island - Eithne Ni Bhraonain decided to re-name herself Enya:" a much easier name to pronounce, for all those who are not used to our mysterious language".

No doubt, she has a mysterious charm. Even if she sold millions of records and if she is known and appreciated in every part of the globe, from Alaska to China, she rearely leaves her beloved places: those dizzy cliffs that fall into the Atlantic ocean, the moon-like stone-quarries of Connemara, the sleepy quiet of Dublin, the "dirty old town " she moved to some years ago. But a part from this, many songs of hers, recently grouped in a charming collection called "Paint the sky with stars" speak about far and esotic worlds: "Orinoco Flow", "Carabbean Blue", "China Roses", "Storms in Africa"......

She smiles once again towards the unmistakable obviety of this consideration, and then , very simply, she answers:" It's not necessary to visit the places we want to describe. We can also reach them with our fantasy, with our minds, with our souls. A better way can be music: having ourselves transported with the inner strength of melody."

Therefore, it's not a matter of visualisation. Even if Enya is an interpreter deeply connected to the New Era philosophy, she is not prone to using all the technical equipment of the New Age. It's barely a musical matter. "Melody is the soul of any song" she said firmly.
"A beautiful voice, an efficent arrangment, a precise orchestration are all important elements of a composition. But they are small additions to a already existing central point which is fundamental: melody. It is the only thing able to lead you to any place and time, able to establish the grade of communication of a song. It's the melody that imposes a sign and a magic to the lyrics. Actually, if the melody is strong enough., if "it works", as we say, words flow from the deep with extreme ease. It's just by this osmosis that imaginary travels of my songs are born. "Besides, there 's obviously a calm, peaceful lifestyle, in perfect harmony with her own Self, and close to Nature.

"That's perhaps because I'm Irish" continues Enya "and everybody knows that Celtic people have always considered Nature as a magic reign, populated by gods.Or maybe because of my melancholic soul. That doesn't mean that it's sad but full of of that spleen which my country is related to. It's a fact that the emotions that fill my songs are simply a part of me that flows away freely. I feel exactly the same when by night, I listen to my favourite composers: Rachmaninov and Satie. And I feel them when I sketch melodies on my piano and I let myself fly toward faraway worlds. It's a wonderful sensation, trust me."