Composing in The Studio With Enya, Ireland 1985

Singer, songwriter and musician Enya on the creative process and composing a soundtrack for the feature film ‘The Frog Prince’.

Since leaving Clannad, one of Enya’s first projects as a solo artist is composing the soundtrack for the feature film, ‘The Frog Prince’. This romantic drama set in 1960s France is produced by David Putman.

Enya’s manager Roma Ryan, is a longstanding fan of David Putman’s films.

I liked his style and I particularly liked his attitude to music in film.

Roma Ryan sensed working on a David Putnam film would be a good fit for Enya. She pursued him for a meeting, a bold move as the film producer was hitherto unacquainted with Enya’s work. Roma Ryan’s persistence paid off. She was given an appointment with David Putman in London and brought Enya’s demo tapes with her as,

I felt that he would be interested in her particular style of music.

An impressed David Putnam commissioned Enya to score the music for the film. Enya was briefly daunted by the task, but she knew she was being given a great opportunity. Enya worked with a producer on the arrangements, and the project took 10 months to complete.

Enya plays ‘Jenny’s Theme’ from ‘The Frog Prince’ and talks about composing that particular instrumental piece of music. She feels she understands the character of Jenny and this was the first piece she composed for the soundtrack.

Roma’s husband Nicky Ryan has a recording studio in the garden of their home. He assists Enya with her music, listening to her compositions from their inception and giving advice on production. They have similar musical sensibilities and there are few instances where their opinions differ.

Enya has started work on a score for a BBC documentary ‘The Celts’ to be serialised in 1986. While the score to ‘The Frog Prince’ was created to the producer’s specifications, ‘The Celts’ is more Enya’s own style.

This episode of ’Iris ‘85’ was broadcast on 9 December 1985. The reporter is Michael Davitt.