Departure: Moya Brennan and "Sailing Away"

Today's random tune is by Moya Brennan and is entitled Sailing Away. In an interview, she describes the song as invoking the feelings of Irish people during the 1800s as they emigrated from their homeland, possibly never to return. An Ireland native, Brennan comes from a musical family (one of her sisters, Eithne, is better known as the singer Enya) and the family's band Clannad have been credited with creating the contemporary Celtic sound. Brennan is the eldest of the siblings, and started her own solo career in 1992. She is often classified as Celtic or New Age, though she feels uncomfortable with the New Age label as her music often has Christian themes. She has recorded 25 solo albums, her music has been featured in film, and she has collaborated with numerous other musicians in a variety of genres. She has also been very candid about her life - in her autobiography The Other Side of the Rainbow she recounts her upbringing in her family and her struggles with alcohol, drugs and an abortion which made her reevaluate her life and become a committed Christian. To help others with similar problems, she has given much to philanthropic endeavors and is a Goodwill Ambassador for the Christian Blind Mission. Sailing Away can be found on her album Two Horizons (2004) and on the 2011 live album Heart Strings.