The Book of Secrets
Encyclopedia
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 certified double-platinum in the US. It has now sold more than 3 million copies worldwide
Loreena McKennitt
Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt, CM, OM, is a Canadian singer, composer, harpist, accordionist and pianist who writes, records and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern themes. McKennitt is known for her refined, clear soprano vocals...
released in 1997. It reached #17 on the Billboard 200. Its single "The Mummers' Dance
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 was a surprise hit in the United States, reaching #3 in Adult Top 40, #17 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and #18 on The Billboard Hot 100.The song is the theme song...
," remixed by DNA
The DNA Disciples
DNA was the pseudonym taken by two British dance music producers Nick Batt and Neal Slateford, best known for issuing a remix of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner" in 1990....
, 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 certified double-platinum in the US. It has now sold more than 3 million copies worldwide
Track listing
All compositions by Loreena McKennitt except as noted.- "Prologue" – 4:22
- "The Mummers' DanceThe 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 was a surprise hit in the United States, reaching #3 in Adult Top 40, #17 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and #18 on The Billboard Hot 100.The song is the theme song...
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxTpvA-pUG0 – 6:07 - "Skellig" – 6:07
- "Marco Polo" – 5:15
- "The Highwayman" (Lyrics by Alfred NoyesAlfred NoyesAlfred Noyes was an English poet, best known for his ballads, "The Highwayman" and "The Barrel-Organ".-Early years:...
, abridged by Loreena McKennit) – 10:19 - "La Serenissima" – 5:09
- "Night Ride across the Caucasus" – 8:30
- "Dante's Prayer" – 7:11
Song information
- The DNAThe DNA DisciplesDNA was the pseudonym taken by two British dance music producers Nick Batt and Neal Slateford, best known for issuing a remix of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner" in 1990....
remix of "The Mummers' Dance" was made into a music video. - "The Highwayman" is an adaptation of the poem "The Highwayman" by Alfred NoyesAlfred NoyesAlfred Noyes was an English poet, best known for his ballads, "The Highwayman" and "The Barrel-Organ".-Early years:...
. - "Dante's Prayer" is a reference to Dante AlighieriDante AlighieriDurante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
's Divine Comedy.
Chart performance
| Chart (1994) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
33 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... (Flanders) |
34 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... (Wallonia) |
25 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
3 |
| Danish Albums Chart Tracklisten Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl... |
14 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
29 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
16 |
| German Albums Chart | 18 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
9 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
30 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 16 |
| Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
30 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
17 |
| US World Albums Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
1 |
Personnel
This information is directly from the sleeve notes.- Loreena McKennitt – vocals (tracks 1,2,3,4,5,7,8), pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
(track 8), keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
(track 6), kanunKanun (Instrument)The Qanun is a string instrument found in the 10th century in Farab in Turkestan...
(track 1), accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
(tracks 4,5) - Anne Bourne – celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
(track 6) - Aidan Brennan – acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
(track 3), mandolaMandolaThe mandola or tenor mandola is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola , a fifth lower than a mandolin...
(tracks 4, 7) - Martin Brown – acoustic guitar (track 5), mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
(track 5), mandola (track 5) - Stuart Bruce – assembled droneDrone (music)In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. The word drone is also used to refer to any part of a musical instrument that is just used to produce such an effect.-A musical effect:A drone...
(track 1), vocal drone (4) - Paul Clarvis – snare drumSnare drumThe snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
(track 5) - Nigel EatonNigel EatonNigel Eaton is an English hurdy gurdy player. He originally played the piano and cello but switched to the hurdy gurdy in 1981 when his father, Christopher Eaton, began making them. He performed as part of the dance band Blowzabella from 1985 and recorded five albums with them before their split in...
– hurdy gurdyHurdy gurdyThe hurdy gurdy or hurdy-gurdy is a stringed musical instrument that produces sound by a crank-turned rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to a violin...
(track 2,4) - Steáfán Hannigan – bodhránBodhránThe bodhrán is an Irish frame drum ranging from 25 to 65 cm in diameter, with most drums measuring 35 to 45 cm . The sides of the drum are 9 to 20 cm deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side...
(track 5) - Nick Hayley – serangSerangSerang is a regency of Banten province, Indonesia. The administrative center of the regency and the capital of the province is the independent municipality of Serang...
(track 7), rebecRebecThe rebecha is a bowed string musical instrument. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and 1-5 strings and is played on the arm or under the chin, like a violin.- Origins :The rebec dates back to the Middle Ages and was particularly popular in the 15th and 16th centuries...
(track 7), lira da braccioLira da braccioThe lira da braccio was a European bowed string instrument of the Renaissance. It was used by Italian poet-musicians in court in the 15th and 16th centuries to accompany their improvised recitations of lyric and narrative poetry. It is most closely related to the medieval fiddle, or vielle, and...
(track 7) - Brian HughesBrian Hughes (musician)Brian Hughes is a Canadian guitarist whose work draws from both the smooth jazz and world music genres. Not restricted entirely to conventional guitars, Hughes has also been known to employ the oud, bouzouki and balalaika...
– oudOudThe oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
(tracks 2,4,7), electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
(tracks 1,5), acoustic guitar (tracks 4,5,7), irish bouzoukiIrish bouzoukiThe Irish bouzouki is a development of the octave mandolin adapted for Irish traditional and other folk music from the late 1960s onward.-Adoption for Celtic music:...
(tracks 4,5,7), guitar synthesizer (track 4), classical guitarClassical guitarThe classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
(track 6), vocal drone (track 4) - Robin Jeffrey – Victorian guitar (track 6)
- Martin Jenkins – mandocelloMandocelloThe mandocello is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It has eight strings in four paired courses, tuned in 5ths like a mandolin, but is larger, and tuned CC-GG-dd-aa . It is to the mandolin what the cello is to the violin.-Construction:Mandocello construction is similar to the...
(tracks 3,4,5,7) - Manu KatchéManu KatchéManu Katché is a French musician of Ivorian origin, born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés on 27 October 1958. He is a drummer and songwriter.-Career:Session musician...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(tracks 1,2,4,7) - Caroline LavelleCaroline LavelleCaroline Lavelle is a British singer-songwriter and cellist who has created three solo albums and contributed vocals, music, and production help to many other artists and bands.-Career:Lavelle studied at the Royal College of Music in London...
– celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
(tracks 2,5,8) - Rick Lazar – percussion (tracks 1,2,4,5,7)
- Joanna Levine – viola da gamba (tracks 3,6)
- Hugh MarshHugh MarshHugh Marsh is a violinist from Toronto, known for his electric violin sound. Marsh was nominated for a 2007 Juno Award in the best contemporary jazz album category.-Early days:...
– violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
(tracks 2,3,4,5,6,7,8) - Osama – violin (track 4)
- Steve Pigott – additional keyboards (tracks 3,8)
- Donald QuanDonald QuanDonald Quan is a Canadian composer of film and world music, best known for writing the scores to television shows Relic Hunter and Mutant X.-Career:...
– tablaTablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
(tracks 2,4,7), timba (track 1), esrajEsrajThe esraj is a string instrument found in two forms throughout the north, central, and east regions of India. It is a young instrument by Indian terms, being only about 200 years old. The dilruba is found in the north, where it is used in religious music and light classical songs in the urban areas...
(track 1), violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
(tracks 2,4,5,6,8), additional keyboards (tracks 3,4), vocal drone (track 4) - Hossam RamzyHossam RamzyHossam Ramzy is an Egyptian percussionist and composer. He has worked with Western artists like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant as well as with Arabic music artists like Rachid Taha and Khaled.-Early life and career:...
– percussion (tracks 2,4,5,7) - David RhodesDavid RhodesDavid Rhodes is an English guitarist, songwriter, and composer. He is probably best-known for his extensive work with Peter Gabriel.-Biography:...
– electric guitar (track 2) - Danny ThompsonDanny ThompsonDaniel Henry Edward 'Danny' Thompson is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist and businessman...
– acoustic bassAcoustic bass guitarThe acoustic bass guitar is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually somewhat larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar...
(tracks 2,3,4,5,7,8) - Bob White – tin whistleTin whistleThe tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
(track 3), shawmShawmThe shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the 12th century until the 17th century. It was developed from the oriental zurna and is the predecessor of the modern oboe. The body of the shawm was usually turned from a single piece of wood,...
(track 4) - String Quartet:
- Jonathan Rees – 1st violin (tracks 3,7)
- Iain King – 2nd violin (tracks 3,7)
- Andy Brown – viola (tracks 3,7)
- Chris van Kampen – cello (tracks 3,7)
- Caroline Dale – string arrangements for tracks 3,6,7
- Additional string arrangements – Brian Gascoigne and Doug Riley