Celtic Music: Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennitt was born in Manitoba, Canada, where she first became interested in Celtic music. She moved to Stratford, Ontario in 1981 and still lives there when not touring and exploring. Her interest in the Celtic people, their history, and geographic spread over Europe and other lands began in 1991 and has fueled her musical journeys ever since.

She has acted and sung in, and composed music for, the Stratford Festival of Canada. The influence of Shakespeare is heard on many of her albums, and I've always felt that acting in Shakespeare's plays has affected her style of singing and phrasing. In listening to and watching Loreena McKennitt perform, it's clear that she is a woman of great talent, intellect and spirituality.

McKennitt's first recording, Elemental in 1985 features her voice and harp on mostly traditional music from Ireland, Scotland and England. Her next two albums continue to feature harp and traditional material, although by the third album her own music and lyrics have come increasingly forward.

The album that brought McKennitt to worldwide attention was 1992's The Visit. The music is still rooted mostly in Ireland, Scotland and England, but other influences are heard as well. There's still a fair amount of harp, but she plays a lot of keyboard as well. On her next two albums, The Mask and Mirror and The Book of Secrets there's only one track each with harp.

Those next two albums expand her sound into a wider range of the world, with influences ranging from Galicia in Spain to Morocco, eastern Europe, across the Caucausus and Siberia, and down to Greece and Turkey.

In 1998 Loreena suffered the loss of her fiance Ronald Rees, his brother Richard, and friend Gregory Cook in a boating accident. She founded the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety, and profits from her album Live in Paris and Toronto went to the fund. This interest has led to her being appointed an Honorary Colonel of the 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in December 2006. Her role is to act as a bridge between civilians and the military.

She didn't perform very much for the next few years. Her next studio album wasn't released until 2006. An Ancient Muse was followed in 2007 with Live from the Alhambra, a 2-CD and DVD set recorded in high definition at the Alhambra Palace in Spain.

Photo credit: Donna Griffiths, Copyright Quinlan Road, by courtesy of Karen Shook on behalf of Quinlan Road.