Five Centres

Is it a sign of getting old to enjoy the music of Enya? I must confess I find her most relaxing. Her Amarantine does it for me every time. That said, I loved Orinoco Flow and that was 18 years ago, when I was of course much younger.

So what category does she fall under, musically? She's not what I would personally call folky, and I'm a big folk fan. No, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon. Nice as it is to have much more folk stuff available, it's irritating that it's all the rage suddenly.

But getting back to Enya, who's the dead spit of ITV entertainment PR Debbie Wilson, I'm not really sure where she fits in. Is she New Age? Do they still have a New Age section in record shops, or is that terribly passe? Depending on how you see it, Enya is either a lush, sweeping soundtrack to relaxation, conjuring up images of overstuffed sofas, hidden rainforest waterfalls and large exotic flowers, or simply muzak for suburban beauty salons.

Incidentally, whatever happened to the New Age? No one talks about it anymore as I suppose we're in it. To me it conjures up early-90s images of wearing white, birdsong, natural remedies and crystals. And of course Guru Josh. Perhaps it's better forgotten after all.