Orinoco flows in every glass at Leo's
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Enya may no longer be up on stage, but her brother is happy to pour you a pint at the family pub
The haunting voice of singer Enya was nurtured in the small town of Gweedore in northwestern Ireland, a place rich in the traditional culture and music of this ancient isle.
The story behind mysterious and soothing musical worlds like “Orinoco Flow” cannot be told without this village of some 4,000 souls.
Push the door to Leo’s Tavern, and more likely than not, you will be met with the sounds of live guitar.
Opened by Enya’s father, Leo, in July 1968, the pub hosts a stage in one corner, where traditional Irish and other folk bands play almost nightly during the summer.
By daytime, the village is so quiet that sheep wander the lanes. But at night, Leo’s lights blaze into the wee hours, as a pub full of patrons sing and play guitar along with the band, some occasionally jumping into stiff-backed, legs-flying Irish dances.
Gweedore is the hometown of Enya’s mother, Baba, 82, a former music teacher. Leo, 87, used to perform with a troupe of travelling musicians, and opened the pub to give his children a place where they would have constant exposure to music.
Enya’s brother, Bartley, 48, who now manages the pub, says the nine siblings used to practise singing and playing instruments on Leo’s stage.
Gweedore is in County Donegal, which is closer to the British province of Northern Ireland than Dublin.
It is sparsely populated, and known locally as the “forgotten county”.
Although English is commonly used in Ireland, the country’s official language, Gaelic, is widely spoken in County Donegal.
The place has a strong sense of “Irishness”, and Enya often uses the Gaelic she learned here as a young child in her songs.
As spring turns to summer, Gweedore’s roadsides and pastures are filled with pretty yellow flowers, brightening the atmosphere. But a car ride tells a different story – peat bogs unsuited to farming stretch out from both sides of the road.
About 1 million people died during the Irish potato famine from the late 1840s to the early 1850s, with another million fleeing to the United States and other countries. Gweedore was not spared and the desolate peat bogs are a reminder of those terrible times.
Enya’s older sister Moya, 60, was part of the successful band Clannad, which also counted Enya and two of her brothers among its members. According to Moya, the people of Gweedore don’t worry about small things, are bright and cheerful, and take things as they come.
That description fits exactly the nightly carefree singing and dancing at Leo’s Tavern.
After making her professional debut with Clanad in 1980, Enya went solo and developed a unique sound of layered voices mixed with folk melodies and synth soundscapes. It bagged her four Grammys and record sales that now stand at more than 75 million, making her one of world’s best-selling artists of all time.
The 51-year-old is now reportedly working on her ninth album, but still finds time for an occasional family visit to the pub where she grew up. And she still sings in her mother’s choir every Christmas at the village church.
