Echoes On-Line: Loreena McKennitt

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Listen to more Icons of Echoes:

Pat Metheny

Steve Tibbetts

Robert Rich

Lisa Gerrard & Dead Can Dance

Brian Eno

R. Carlos Nakai

Mickey Hart

Steve Roach

Andreas Vollenweider

Over the years certain artists have emerged as icons of the Echoes soundscape. These are musicians who shifted the direction of music, whose work influenced a generation and usually, musicians who also tend to be articulate thinkers about their art. In this series, you'll hear features Echoes has produced on these artists, often encompassing their entire careers.

LOREENA MCKENNITT:
An Icon of Echoes

Loreena McKennitt: One of Ten Artists for Ten Years of Echoes (1999)

Loreena McKennitt started out as a street musician, released albums on her own Quinlan Road label and then became world renowned after the release of The Visit on Warner Bros. Her evocative sound incorporates flavors from middle eastern to medieval music, and over the years she's been an Echoes favorite.

In 1999, for the tenth anniversary of Echoes, staff and listeners weighed in on the ten most important artists to the Echoes sound, and Loreena McKennitt was among them.

listen>> (approx. 7 minutes)

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Loreena McKennitt: Celtic Soul from Canada (1992)

Loreena McKennitt is a Canadian singer who has adopted the Celtic harp as her main instrument and Ireland as her spiritual home. In 1992, Loreena McKennitt talked with us about music she made in a church belfry for his first U.S. album, The Visit. The singer adapted lyrics from Shakespeare and Tennyson, drew on myths of Ireland and Japan, and merged Eastern tonalities with Celtic melodies.

listen>> (approx. 7 minutes)

Loreena McKennitt's Marrakech Express (1994)

We spoke with Loreena McKennitt again to discuss her album, The Mask and Mirror.

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Loreena McKennitt's Ancient Pathways (1997)

Loreena McKennitt is a musician looking for connections between music, culture and the spirit. Her journeys have taken her from Canada to Ireland, Morocco to Siberia. In 1997, we visited McKennitt's belfry studio in Stratford, Ontario where she unveiled her album, The Book of Secrets. It's a haunting, evocative work with Loreena's trademark vocals and literary adaptations.

listen>> (approx. 7 minutes)

LOREENA MCKENNITT: TRAGEDY AND REFLECTION (1999)
1998 was Loreena McKennitt's year. Her album, The Book of Secrets went into Billboard's Top 20 and the song "The Mummer's Dance" was a minor hit and a movie trailer favorite. But tragedy struck Loreena the next year, when her fiancee was lost in a boating accident. The results are a benefit album for the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety, Live in Paris & Toronto. It was also a chance for McKennitt to reflect on her career and the impact of her music.

listen>> (approx. 7 minutes)

A Living Room Concert with Loreena McKennitt (1994)

In 1994, Loreena McKennitt stopped by the Echoes studio and gave an intimate performance for voice and harp. She played songs old and new, including one she hadn't yet recorded.

listen>> (approx. 25 minutes)

listen to all interview features>> (approx 30 minutes)

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