Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt,
CMThe Order of Canada is an honour for merit that is, within the Canadian system of honours, the highest such order administered by the Governor General-in-Council, on behalf of the Queen of Canada. Created in 1967, to coincide with the centennial of Canadian...
,
OMThe Order of Manitoba is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Instituted in 1996 by Lieutenant Governor Peter M. Liba, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier Gary Filmon,
the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council,
and is...
, (born February 17, 1957) is a
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
singer, composer, harpist and pianist most famous for writing, recording and performing
world musicWorld music is the traditional music or folk music of a culture that is created and played by indigenous musicians that is closely related to the music of the regions of their origin.-Terminology:...
with Celtic and Middle Eastern themes. McKennitt is known for her refined, warbling
sopranoA soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music...
vocals.
McKennitt was born in
Morden, ManitobaMorden is a large town with a population of 6571 located in the Pembina Valley region of southern Manitoba, Canada. Morden is less than ten minutes west of neighbouring Winkler, and a relatively short distance to Pembina Valley Provincial Park.-History:Originally called Cheval, Morden can be...
of
IrishIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
and
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
descent to parents Jack and Irene McKennitt (a livestock dealer and a nurse).
Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt,
CMThe Order of Canada is an honour for merit that is, within the Canadian system of honours, the highest such order administered by the Governor General-in-Council, on behalf of the Queen of Canada. Created in 1967, to coincide with the centennial of Canadian...
,
OMThe Order of Manitoba is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Instituted in 1996 by Lieutenant Governor Peter M. Liba, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier Gary Filmon,
the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council,
and is...
, (born February 17, 1957) is a
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
singer, composer, harpist and pianist most famous for writing, recording and performing
world musicWorld music is the traditional music or folk music of a culture that is created and played by indigenous musicians that is closely related to the music of the regions of their origin.-Terminology:...
with Celtic and Middle Eastern themes. McKennitt is known for her refined, warbling
sopranoA soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music...
vocals.
Early life
McKennitt was born in
Morden, ManitobaMorden is a large town with a population of 6571 located in the Pembina Valley region of southern Manitoba, Canada. Morden is less than ten minutes west of neighbouring Winkler, and a relatively short distance to Pembina Valley Provincial Park.-History:Originally called Cheval, Morden can be...
of
IrishIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
and
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
descent to parents Jack and Irene McKennitt (a livestock dealer and a nurse). She moved to
StratfordStratford is a city on the Avon River in Perth County in Southern Ontario, Canada with a population of 30,461, according to the 2006 census....
,
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
in 1981, where she lives.
When Loreena was young she wanted to become a veterinarian but she found that music chose her rather than she it. Developing a passion for Celtic music, she learned to play the Celtic harp and began
buskingBusking is the practice of performing in public places for tips and gratuities. People engaging in this practice are called buskers or street performers. Busking performances can be just about anything that people find entertaining...
at various places, one well known place being St. Lawrence Market in
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
in order to earn money needed for publishing her first album.
Career
Her first album,
ElementalElemental is the first album recorded by Loreena McKennitt and vehicle with which she launched the Quinlan Road label. It was released in 1985. The album was recorded one week in July, 1985...
, was released in 1985, followed by
To Drive the Cold Winter AwayTo Drive the Cold Winter Away is Loreena McKennitt's second album, released in 1987. It pays homage to her childhood memories of music for the winter season, the most vivid of which “came from songs and carols recorded in churches or great halls, rich with their own unique ambience and...
(1987),
Parallel Dreams-Track listing:All songs by Loreena McKennitt except as noted.# "Samain Night" – 4:27# "Moon Cradle" – 4:29# "Huron 'Beltane' Fire Dance" – 4:20# "Annachie Gordon" – 8:22...
(1989),
The VisitThe Visit is the fourth studio album by Loreena McKennitt and was released in 1991.-Track listing:All compositions by Loreena McKennitt except as noted.# "All Souls Night" – 5:09...
(1991),
The Mask and Mirror-Overview:Like most of Loreena McKennitt's albums, The Mask and Mirror is heavily influenced by her travels. Her experiences in Spain and Morocco specifically, serve as the inspiration for this album....
(1994),
A Winter GardenA Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season is an EP by Loreena McKennitt. Recorded and released in 1995, it contains five tracks: three Christmas carols, McKennitt’s adaptation of Archibald Lampman’s poem “Snow” , and the traditional English "Seeds of Love".-Track listing:# Coventry Carol - 2:21#...
(1995),
The Book of SecretsThe Book of Secrets is an album by Loreena McKennitt released in 1997. It reached #17 on the Billboard 200. Its single "The Mummers' Dance," remixed by DNA, was released during the winter of 1997–98, and peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #17 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.The album is...
(1997),
An Ancient MuseAn Ancient Muse is the seventh full-length studio album of the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist, Loreena McKennitt. It was released on November 20 2006 internationally, and November 21 2006 in the United States and Canada. It was her first studio album after a 9-year...
(2006) and
A Midwinter Night’s DreamA Midwinter Night's Dream is an album by the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist Loreena McKennitt, released on October 28, 2008.-Origins:The album is an extended version of A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season...
(2008). All of her work is released under her own label,
Quinlan RoadQuinlan Road is an independent record label founded in 1985 and based in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. It is maintained by its sole artist, Loreena McKennitt.-History:...
.
In 1993, her music became known to a wider audience when she toured Europe supporting
Mike OldfieldMichael Gordon "Mike" Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age and more recently dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
. In 1995, her version of the traditional Irish song "
Bonny Portmore"Bonny Portmore" is an Irish traditional folk song which details the centuries of Ireland's old oak forests, specifically The Great Oak of Portmore, being leveled for military and shipbuilding purposes....
" was prominently featured in the film
Highlander 3, causing a large increase of album sales among fans of the films. McKennitt's single "
The Mummers' Dance"The Mummers' Dance" is a single by Canadian Celtic Singer Loreena McKennitt from the album The Book of Secrets in 1997. The song reached #3 in Adult Top 40 and #18 on The Billboard Hot 100.The song is the theme song of the TV series Legacy...
" was a widespread success, receiving considerable airplay in North American markets during the spring of 1997, and was used as the theme song for the short-lived TV series,
LegacyLegacy is an American western drama series starring Brett Cullen which aired on UPN for eighteen episodes from 1998-1999. The series is set on a Kentucky horse farm soon after the American Civil War. Cullen's character of Ned Logan is the 42-year-old widowed patriarch of the family...
.
Her music appeared in the movies
The Santa ClauseThe Santa Clause is a Christmas film released by both Walt Disney Pictures and Hollywood Pictures, starring Tim Allen. Scott Calvin is a father who finds himself contractually bound to become Santa Claus when he unintentionally puts on the previous Santa's suit.- Plot :Scott Calvin is a divorced...
,
SoldierSoldier is a 1998 science fiction-action film directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. The film stars Kurt Russell as Sgt. Todd, a soldier trained from birth. The film also features Gary Busey, Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Sean Pertwee and Michael Chiklis in supporting roles.It was written...
,
JadeJade is an erotic thriller film written by Joe Eszterhas, produced by Robert Evans, directed by William Friedkin and starring David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Richard Crenna and Michael Biehn. The original music score was composed by James Horner...
,
Holy Man,
The Mists of AvalonThe Mists of Avalon is a 2001 miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It was produced by American cable channel TNT and directed by Uli Edel...
, TinkerbellTinker Bell is a 2008 computer animated film based on the Disney Fairies franchise produced by DisneyToon Studios. It revolves around Tinker Bell, a fairy character created by J. M. Barrie in his play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, and featured in the 1953 Disney animated film, Peter...
, and in the television series RoarRoar is an American television show that originally aired on the Fox network in the summer of 1997. In the year AD 400, a young Irish man, Conor , sets out to rid his land of the invading Romans, but in order to accomplish it, he must unite the Celtic clans.-Premise:Roar chronicles the...
and
Due SouthDue South is a Canadian television police comedy-drama from the 1990s. It was created by Paul Haggis and produced by Alliance Communications. The show first aired in 1994, and ran until 1999. It followed the adventures of fictional Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Constable Benton Fraser and...
.
Personal life
In 1998, McKennitt's fiancé, Ronald Rees; his brother Richard; and their close friend Gregory Cook, drowned during a boating incident on
Georgian BayGeorgian Bay is a large bay of Lake Huron, located in Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and south of Manitoulin Island....
. She was deeply affected by the event and subsequently founded the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety in the same year.
At the time of the incident, she was working on an album of two live performances called
Live in Paris and TorontoLive in Paris and Toronto is a two CD live album by Loreena McKennitt, released in 1999.-Personnel:*Loreena McKennitt - vocals, piano, accordion, keyboards, harp*Nigel Eaton - hurdy gurdy*Brian Hughes - guitars, oud, bouzouki, keyboards...
. The proceeds from the sales of that album were donated to the newly created fund, totaling some three million dollars. After the release of the live album, McKennitt decided to substantially reduce the number of public performances and did not release any new recordings until the studio album An Ancient MuseAn Ancient Muse is the seventh full-length studio album of the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist, Loreena McKennitt. It was released on November 20 2006 internationally, and November 21 2006 in the United States and Canada. It was her first studio album after a 9-year...
in 2006.
Honors
- Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
, Best Roots/Traditional Album 1992, for
The Visit
.
Juno Award, Best Roots/Traditional Album 1994, for The Mask and Mirror.
Billboard International Achievement Award, 1997.
Headline performer for HRH Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at The Golden Jubilee CelebrationsThe Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II was the international celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries. It was marked with large-scale events throughout London in June 2002, which were bookended by events in the other Commonwealth...
, Province of Manitoba, 2002.
Honorary Doctor of Letters, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityWilfrid Laurier University is a university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It also has campuses in Brantford, Ontario, and Kitchener, Ontario. It is named in honour of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the seventh Prime Minister of Canada....
, 2002.
Member of the Order of ManitobaThe Order of Manitoba is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Instituted in 1996 by Lieutenant Governor Peter M. Liba, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier Gary Filmon,
the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council,
and is...
, July 2003.
Member of the Order of CanadaThe Order of Canada is an honour for merit that is, within the Canadian system of honours, the highest such order administered by the Governor General-in-Council, on behalf of the Queen of Canada. Created in 1967, to coincide with the centennial of Canadian...
, July 2004.
Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of ManitobaThe University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is also Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution.. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed in...
, June 2005
Canadian Ambassador, Hans Christian Andersen Bicentennary, June 2005
Honorary Doctor of Laws, Queen's UniversityQueen's University, generally referred to simply as Queen's, is a coeducational, non-sectarian, research intensive, public university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. In 2008, Queen's maintained its status as one of the top universities in Canada.The Church of Scotland established Queen's...
, October 2005
Investiture as Honorary Colonel, 435 Squadron, Canadian Air Force, December 2006
Nominated for a Grammy award, Best Contemporary World Music Album, in 2007
Western Canadian Music AwardsThe Western Canadian Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony for music in the western portion of Canada, that originated in its current form in 2003...
Lifetime Achievement Award, September 2009
Genre and work
McKennitt's music has generally been classified as
WorldWorld music is the traditional music or folk music of a culture that is created and played by indigenous musicians that is closely related to the music of the regions of their origin.-Terminology:...
/
Celtic musicCeltic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic peoples of Western Europe...
even though it contains aspects and characteristics of music from around the globe and is sometimes classified as
Folk musicThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
in record stores.
Before McKennitt composes any music, she engages in considerable research on a specific subject which then forms the general concept of the album. Before creating Elemental
and Parallel Dreams
, she traveled to IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
for inspiration from the country's history, folkloreFolklore is the body of expressive culture, including stories, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions of that culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which...
, geography and culture. The album The Mask and Mirror
was preceded by research in SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
where she engaged in studying Galicia, a Celtic section of Spain, along with its abundant Arabic roots. The result was an album including elements of Celtic and Arabic music. According to the notes of her latest album, An Ancient Muse was inspired primarily by travels among and reading about the various cultures along the
Silk RoadThe Silk Road is an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, as well as North and Northeast Africa and Europe...
.
McKennitt is compared to
EnyaEithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin , better known as Enya, is an Irish vocalist, instrumentalist and composer. Her name is sometimes presented in the media as Enya Brennan; Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in her native Irish.She began her musical career in 1980, when...
, but McKennitt's music is more grounded in traditional and classical invocations, using literary works as sources of lyrics and springboards for interpretation such as "
The Lady of Shalott"The Lady of Shalott" is a Victorian ballad by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson . Like his other early poems – "Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere" and "Galahad" – the poem recasts Arthurian subject matter loosely based on medieval sources.-Overview:Tennyson wrote two versions of the poem, one...
" by
Lord TennysonAlfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS , much better known as "Alfred, Lord Tennyson," was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language.Tennyson excelled at penning short lyrics, "In the valley of...
, "
ProsperoProspero is the protagonist in The Tempest, a play by William Shakespeare.-The Tempest:Prospero was the rightful Duke of Milan, who was put to sea on "a rotten carcass of a butt " to die by his usurping brother, Antonio, twelve years before the play begins. Prospero and Miranda survived, and found...
's Speech" (the final
soliloquyA soliloquy is a literary device often used in drama characterized by a character's divulgence of his or her thoughts or emotions to the audience...
in
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's
The TempestThe Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–11, although some researchers have argued for an earlier dating. The play's protagonist is the banished sorcerer Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, who initially uses his magical powers to punish his enemies when he raises a...
), "Snow" by
Archibald LampmanArchibald Lampman, FRSC was a Canadian poet. He was born at Morpeth, Ontario, a village near Chatham. Lampman attended Trinity College...
, "Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John of the Cross,
William BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the...
's "Lullaby",
Yeats'William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years Yeats served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
"
The Stolen Child"The Stolen Child" is a poem by William Butler Yeats, published in 1889 in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems.-Overview:The poem was written in 1886 and is considered to be one of Yeats' more notable early poems. The poem is based on Irish legend and concerns faeries beguiling a child to come...
", and
"The Highwayman""The Highwayman" is a narrative poem by Alfred Noyes, published in 1906. The poem was written when Noyes was a young man, and brought him immediate and long-lasting success. It tells the story of a nameless highwayman who is in love with a landlord's daughter named Bess...
by
Alfred NoyesAlfred Noyes was an English poet, best known for his ballads, The Highwayman and The Barrel Organ.-Early years:...
.
Court case
In 2005, McKennitt was involved in an acrimonious court case in England when her former friend and employee, Niema Ash, published a book which contained intimate details of their friendship. McKennitt argued that much of the book contained confidential personal information, which Ash had no right to publish. The English courts found that there had indeed been a breach of confidence and a misuse of McKennitt's private information, and the case is likely to set important precedents in English law on the privacy of celebrities. The House of Lords affirmed the lower court's decisions in 2007.
2006 and since
In September 2006, McKennitt performed live at the
AlhambraThe Alhambra , the complete form of which was Calat Alhambra , is a palace and fortress complex of the Moorish rulers of Granada in southern Spain , occupying a hilly terrace on the...
. The performance premiered on PBS and in August 2007 was released on a three-disc DVD/CD set entitled Nights from the Alhambra
.
In 2008, McKennitt composed the song entitled To The Fairies They Draw Near
as the theme song for Disney's direct to video animated film Tinker BellTinker Bell is a 2008 computer animated film based on the Disney Fairies franchise produced by DisneyToon Studios. It revolves around Tinker Bell, a fairy character created by J. M. Barrie in his play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, and featured in the 1953 Disney animated film, Peter...
. The film makers were so impressed with her, that they asked her to do the narration for the film.
In the Spring of that same year, she returned to Peter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English musician and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. More recently he has focused on producing and promoting world music and pioneering...
's Real World StudiosReal World Studios is the high-tech recording studio in Box, Wiltshire, associated with the Real World Records Ltd. record label founded by rock musician Peter Gabriel...
to record A Midwinter Night’s DreamA Midwinter Night's Dream is an album by the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist Loreena McKennitt, released on October 28, 2008.-Origins:The album is an extended version of A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season...
, an extended version of A Winter GardenA Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season is an EP by Loreena McKennitt. Recorded and released in 1995, it contains five tracks: three Christmas carols, McKennitt’s adaptation of Archibald Lampman’s poem “Snow” , and the traditional English "Seeds of Love".-Track listing:# Coventry Carol - 2:21#...
(1995). The album was released on October 28.
Since the release of An Ancient Muse Loreena has toured consistently, with a European and North American tour in the Spring of 2007, an extensive cross Canada and United States tour in the fall of 2007, a summer tour of Europe in 2008 and a Mediterranean tour in the summer of 2009, with stops in Greece (concerts were postponed, but finally held in late June), Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Hungary and Italy.
On September 17th 2009, through her facebook and website, Loreena announced that in the fall of 2009, she will be releasing a Two Disc set entitled "A Mediterranean Odyssey"
The first CD, From Istanbul to Athens, consists of ten new live recordings made during Loreena’s 2009 Mediterranean Tour, including songs that have never before been recorded in concert. It will also include a twenty-four-page, lavishly illustrated booklet featuring on-location photographs captured during the 2009 Tour.
The second CD, The Olive and the Cedar, has a Mediterranean theme curated by Loreena herself. It contains previously released studio recordings created between the years of 1994 and 2006.
Documentaries
McKennitt created No Journey's End
, a half-hour documentaryDocumentary film is a broad category of visual expressions that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and digital productions that can...
, for AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
. In it, she discusses the influences behind her music. No Journey's End
contains excerpts from several songs from the albums Parallel Dreams-Track listing:All songs by Loreena McKennitt except as noted.# "Samain Night" – 4:27# "Moon Cradle" – 4:29# "Huron 'Beltane' Fire Dance" – 4:20# "Annachie Gordon" – 8:22...
, The VisitThe Visit is the fourth studio album by Loreena McKennitt and was released in 1991.-Track listing:All compositions by Loreena McKennitt except as noted.# "All Souls Night" – 5:09...
, and The Mask and Mirror-Overview:Like most of Loreena McKennitt's albums, The Mask and Mirror is heavily influenced by her travels. Her experiences in Spain and Morocco specifically, serve as the inspiration for this album....
. It also shows live performances of the songs "The Lady of Shalott", "Santiago", and "The Dark Night of the Soul". It was later released as both a DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
and VHSVideo Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, was a video tape recording standard developed during the 1970s. It was released to the public during the latter half of the decade. During the late part of the 1970s and the early 1980s it formed one-half of the VHS vs Betamax war, which it...
, the former also containing music videoA music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music/song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own in the...
s for "The Mummers' Dance" and "The Bonny Swans". A bonus copy of the DVD was included with the 2004 remastered versions of McKennitt's CDs.
In 2008, Loreena released A Moveable Musical Feast
, a unique souvenir of Loreena McKennitt’s 2007 An Ancient Muse tour with a rare backstage look. The DVD includes interviews with Loreena, her band, crew, fans and professional colleagues from the Canadian music industry. Loreena and her fellow travellers describe their stories of how her show ‘goes up’, discuss the joys and challenges of their nomadic life when ‘on the road’ and share their thoughts on the creative relationships they have with each other, the music and the audience.
Albums
- Elemental
Elemental is the first album recorded by Loreena McKennitt and vehicle with which she launched the Quinlan Road label. It was released in 1985. The album was recorded one week in July, 1985...
(1985)
- To Drive the Cold Winter Away
To Drive the Cold Winter Away is Loreena McKennitt's second album, released in 1987. It pays homage to her childhood memories of music for the winter season, the most vivid of which “came from songs and carols recorded in churches or great halls, rich with their own unique ambience and...
(1987)
- Parallel Dreams
-Track listing:All songs by Loreena McKennitt except as noted.# "Samain Night" – 4:27# "Moon Cradle" – 4:29# "Huron 'Beltane' Fire Dance" – 4:20# "Annachie Gordon" – 8:22...
(1989)
- The Visit
The Visit is the fourth studio album by Loreena McKennitt and was released in 1991.-Track listing:All compositions by Loreena McKennitt except as noted.# "All Souls Night" – 5:09...
(1991)
- The Mask and Mirror
-Overview:Like most of Loreena McKennitt's albums, The Mask and Mirror is heavily influenced by her travels. Her experiences in Spain and Morocco specifically, serve as the inspiration for this album....
(1994) US #143
- The Book of Secrets
The Book of Secrets is an album by Loreena McKennitt released in 1997. It reached #17 on the Billboard 200. Its single "The Mummers' Dance," remixed by DNA, was released during the winter of 1997–98, and peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #17 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.The album is...
(1997) US #17
- An Ancient Muse
An Ancient Muse is the seventh full-length studio album of the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist, Loreena McKennitt. It was released on November 20 2006 internationally, and November 21 2006 in the United States and Canada. It was her first studio album after a 9-year...
(2006) US #83, and nominated for a Grammy in 2008.
- A Midwinter Night’s Dream
A Midwinter Night's Dream is an album by the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist Loreena McKennitt, released on October 28, 2008.-Origins:The album is an extended version of A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season...
(2008) US #198
Live Albums
- Live in Paris and Toronto
Live in Paris and Toronto is a two CD live album by Loreena McKennitt, released in 1999.-Personnel:*Loreena McKennitt - vocals, piano, accordion, keyboards, harp*Nigel Eaton - hurdy gurdy*Brian Hughes - guitars, oud, bouzouki, keyboards...
(1999)
- Nights from the Alhambra
Nights from the Alhambra is a live album and DVD from the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist, Loreena McKennitt and is her first live concert DVD...
(2007)
- From Istanbul to Athens (2009)
Compilations
- The Best of Loreena McKennitt (1997)
- A Mummers' Dance Through Ireland (2009)
- The Olive and the Cedar (2009)
EPs
- A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season
A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season is an EP by Loreena McKennitt. Recorded and released in 1995, it contains five tracks: three Christmas carols, McKennitt’s adaptation of Archibald Lampman’s poem “Snow” , and the traditional English "Seeds of Love".-Track listing:# Coventry Carol - 2:21#...
(1995)
- Live in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts
Live in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts is an EP of the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist, Loreena McKennitt...
(1995)
- Words and Music (1997)
- A Moveable Musical Feast (2008)
Singles
- "The Lady of Shalott
"The Lady of Shalott" is a Victorian ballad by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson . Like his other early poems – "Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere" and "Galahad" – the poem recasts Arthurian subject matter loosely based on medieval sources.-Overview:Tennyson wrote two versions of the poem, one...
" (1991)
- "All Souls Night" (1991)
- "Courtyard Lullaby" (1991)
- "Greensleeves
"Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song and tune, a ground of the form called a romanesca.A broadside ballad by this name was registered at the London Stationer's Company in 1580 as "A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves". It then appears in the surviving A Handful of Pleasant...
" (1993)
- "The Bonny Swans" (1994)
- "Santiago" (1994)
- "The Dark Night of the Soul" (1994)
- "The Mystic's Dreams" (1995)
- "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" (1995)
- "The Mummers' Dance
"The Mummers' Dance" is a single by Canadian Celtic Singer Loreena McKennitt from the album The Book of Secrets in 1997. The song reached #3 in Adult Top 40 and #18 on The Billboard Hot 100.The song is the theme song of the TV series Legacy...
" (1997) #18 Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, #17 Billboard Modern RockAlternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wifqxqegldke~T51
- "Marco Polo" (1998)
- "Caravanserai" (2006)
- "Penelope's Song" (2007)
- "The Seven Rejoices of Mary" (2008)
- "Noël Nouvelet!" (2008)
Videos
- The Mummers' Dance (1997)
- The Bonny Swans
- Loreena McKennitt: Nights from the Alhambra (2007, Live concert in Spain premiered on PBS)
- A Moveable Musical Feast (2008, A tour documentary from Loreena's 2007 North American Tour)
Other
- No Journey’s End (half-hour profile, aired on PBS; DVD
DVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
)
- Heaven On Earth
Heaven on Earth are a husband and wife duo formed in England in 1983 by members Joe Ortiz and Pauly Ortiz ....
(TV Movie 1987 - played "Lady Traveler")
- Highlander III (Soundtrack contribution)
- The Santa Clause
The Santa Clause is a Christmas film released by both Walt Disney Pictures and Hollywood Pictures, starring Tim Allen. Scott Calvin is a father who finds himself contractually bound to become Santa Claus when he unintentionally puts on the previous Santa's suit.- Plot :Scott Calvin is a divorced...
(Soundtrack contribution)
- Léolo
Léolo is a 1992 film by Quebec director Jean-Claude Lauzon.The film tells the story of Léo Lauzon , a young boy living in a Montreal tenement with his dysfunctional family. He uses his active fantasy life and the book L'avalée des avalés by Canadian novelist Réjean Ducharme to escape the reality of...
(Soundtrack contribution)
- Una casa con vista al mar(Soundtrack contribution)
- The Mists Of Avalon
The Mists of Avalon is a 2001 miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It was produced by American cable channel TNT and directed by Uli Edel...
(Soundtrack use)
- Due South
Due South is a Canadian television police comedy-drama from the 1990s. It was created by Paul Haggis and produced by Alliance Communications. The show first aired in 1994, and ran until 1999. It followed the adventures of fictional Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Constable Benton Fraser and...
(Soundtrack use)
- Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure is an American television series that ran on CBS from 1990 to 1995, with a total of 110 episodes. The series was given a pair of consecutive Peabody Awards: in 1991–92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, [of] the cultural clash between a transplanted New...
(Soundtrack use)
- Tinker Bell
Tinker Bell is a 2008 computer animated film based on the Disney Fairies franchise produced by DisneyToon Studios. It revolves around Tinker Bell, a fairy character created by J. M. Barrie in his play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, and featured in the 1953 Disney animated film, Peter...
(Direct to DVD movie, 2008 - Narrator)
- Soldier
Soldier is a 1998 science fiction-action film directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. The film stars Kurt Russell as Sgt. Todd, a soldier trained from birth. The film also features Gary Busey, Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Sean Pertwee and Michael Chiklis in supporting roles.It was written...
(Soundtrack use)
External links