Loreena McKennitt- An Ancient Muse

[Fenrisulfr]

Loreena McKennitt- An Ancient Muse

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/csaszar30/l_mckennitt_ancientmuse_360.jpg


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3MNEL65R


1. Incantation
2. The Gates Of Istanbul
3. Caravanserai
4. The English Ladye And The Knight
5. Kecharitomene
6. Penelope's Song
7. Sacred Shabbat
8. Beneath A Phrygian Sky
9. Never-Ending Road (Amhrán Duit)

[Boleslaw]

Yes Im a big fan of her work. I haven't heard this album yet.

[Kodos]

I know her version of "The Foggy Dew" (like IRA music despite my opposition to the IRA). Not my favorite, is her other stuff good.

[Boleslaw]

A few songs of her I like:

Mummers' Dance (http://youtube.com/watch?v=TCiDm8H1ggU) probably her most famous song

The Bonny Swans (http://youtube.com/watch?v=qTXbT2l2kV0)


And these are songs of her set to weird videos:

Mystics Dream (http://youtube.com/watch?v=3h0o_irhzxs)

Santiago (http://youtube.com/watch?v=cFlzIi4gJOA) (which is a Medieval Spanish pilgrim song)

Night Ride Across the Caucasus (http://youtube.com/watch?v=5lMbVzFtvM8) - this video is good. Our resident Georgian commisar would like this!

And of course; her stunning rendition of Dark Night of the Soul (http://youtube.com/watch?v=nEZnm30nhlc) by St. John of the Cross

[The Retard]

There appears to be an Arabic theme to this album if I'm not mistaken.

[Fenrisulfr]

I'm a very big fan of Loreena McKennitt as well, and this is just one of many great albums that she has recorded.

My favorite tracks of this album are "The English Ladye and the Knight", " Penelope's Song", "Beneath A Phrygian Sky", and "Never-ending Road".


I will upload a few more of her albums sometime in the near future. Any requests?

[Boleslaw]

There appears to be an Arabic theme to this album if I'm not mistaken.
No, this album is supposed to be about the origins of the Celtic peoples.


You're thinking of "The Mask and the Mirror" (http://www.amazon.com/Mask-Mirror-Loreena-McKennitt/dp/B000002MMS):

Loreena McKennitt drew her inspiration for this album from 15th century Spain, where the cultures of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam coexisted uneasily, tied together by a common tradition of religious mysticism. McKennitt reflects the multi-culturalism in arrangements that mix the half-tone intervals and familiar instruments of the Aryan north with the quarter-tone intervals and dumbeg, oud, and tamboura of the Semitic south. The results are often intoxicating, even if the composer consistently prefers slow-moving tempos. There's a tension and density to this music that safely removes it from the new- age category. McKennitt's attempts to evoke medieval mysticism in her lyrics are less successful. She fares best when she draws her texts from other sources: Prospero's closing speech from Shakespeare's "The Tempest," Yeats's "The Two Trees," "The Dark Night of the Soul" by the medieval Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross, and the traditional narrative ballad, "The Bonny Swans." One these numbers, the shadowy, mesmerizing atmospheres conjured up by McKennitt's music are enhanced by the words rather than spoiled by them. --Geoffrey Himes

[Boleslaw]

I'm a very big fan of Loreena McKennitt as well, and this is just one of many great albums that she has recorded.

My favorite tracks in this album are "The English Ladye and the Knight", " Penelope's Song", "Beneath A Phrygian Sky", and "Never-ending Road".


I will upload a few more of her albums sometime in the near future. Any requests?

Have you heard her latest Christmas album "To Drive the Cold Winter Away" (http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Cold-Winter-Away/dp/B000000LXD/ref=pd_sim_m_1_img/102-5699471-4975333)? that was pretty good, especially "The King".

Her other Christmas album, "A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season" (http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Garden-Five-Songs-Season/dp/B000002N3H/ref=pd_sim_m_5/102-5699471-4975333) was nice, I love her rendition of " Good King Wenceslas".

[Fenrisulfr]

Have you heard her latest Christmas album "To Drive the Cold Winter Away" (http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Cold-Winter-Away/dp/B000000LXD/ref=pd_sim_m_1_img/102-5699471-4975333)? that was pretty good, especially "The King".

Her other Christmas album, "A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season" (http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Garden-Five-Songs-Season/dp/B000002N3H/ref=pd_sim_m_5/102-5699471-4975333) was nice, I love her rendition of " Good King Wenceslas".


Unfortunately I haven't. I may have to purchase it during the Christmas season.

I actually only have 4 of her albums:

An Ancient Muse, The Book Of Secrets, The Mask and Mirror, and the Visit

If you are interested in any of them, let me know. I can upload them tomorrow.

[il ragno]

I got talked into buying her LIVE IN PARIS & TORONTO. Pretty good if not exactly my cup of tea.

[Boleslaw]

Other than Ancient Muse, I have the rest you mentioned.

You should still be able to purchase the other album, on amazon or through Borders or such. I purchased this Christmas album (http://www.thephora.net/forum/showpost.php?p=271170&postcount=1) last March.

[harjit]

When I first discovered Stormfront and did extensive reading to get an idea of what WN was about, one of my earlier conceptions of it was that groups of white people would forgo global capitalism and settle in rural villages (a cross between The Shire in LOTR and the settlement in the film The Village by M. Night Shyamalan), welding their own tools, roasting huge wild boars in pits, men drinking beer in huge pitchers and pinching girls' bottoms, and the music of Loreena McKennitt wafting in the background. Enya would be a bit to quirky.

Honestly, this was the image I got at the beginning, it seemed kind of nice in some ways.

[Jake Featherston]

Loreena McKennitt is great. I have "The Mask and Mirror" and "The Book of Secrets." Both are excellent.

[Kodos]

When I first discovered Stormfront and did extensive reading to get an idea of what WN was about, one of my earlier conceptions of it was that groups of white people would forgo global capitalism and settle in rural villages (a cross between The Shire in LOTR and the settlement in the film The Village by M. Night Shyamalan), welding their own tools, roasting huge wild boars in pits, men drinking beer in huge pitchers and pinching girls' bottoms, and the music of Loreena McKennitt wafting in the background. Enya would be a bit to quirky.

Honestly, this was the image I got at the beginning, it seemed kind of nice in some ways.

Primitivism is not a sound plan, since you are occupying land you need to defend it. If an enemy has a century of technology on you...

[Boleslaw]

I prefer her over Enya to be honest.

[Jake Featherston]

I prefer her over Enya to be honest.

I bought an Enya album, and sold it back to the same store the next time I went. Yawners.

[Boleslaw]

Primitivism is not a sound plan, since you are occupying land you need to defend it. If an enemy has a century of technology on you...

Most wars nowadays are low-tech and asymetrical. I agree outright Primitivism is a dead end(not just for military tactical purposes).

[Boleslaw]

I bought an Enya album, and sold it back to the same store the next time I went. Yawners.
I like a few of her songs, but yes overall I've heard better. If anything, I'll just borrow her CDs from the library.

[Kodos]

Most wars nowadays are low-tech and asymetrical.

Thats because liberal westerners don't respond to that in the classic way, exterminate the rebellious population. At least enough of it till they stop...

If you are dealing with other races with better technology (Asians mainly, but if we deliberately went primitive even 3rd world blacks and hispanics would have better technology soon) they won't be so nice.

But anyway off topic.

[albion]

http://www.quinlanroad.com/images/loreena.jpg http://www.quinlanroad.com/homepage/index.asp?LangType=1033

[Julian Curtis Lee]

No offense to the guys who like her, but I find Loreena McKennitt:

1) Consistently melodramatic and emotionally "portentious" in a way that I associate with a certain type of self-absorbed 'new age" type female who you found all over California in the 1990's. I've met so many "I'm a Goddess," and "I'm a shaman" and "I'm an ancient muse" females that her whole persona seems like a distillation of that. McKennitt seems encourage them and these types love listening to Loreena McKennitt.

2) Mournfully depressing. Almost as bad as Sarah McClaughlin but more deliberately so. I sort of like to hear an Irish rustic girl in that mode, but McKennitt overdoes the "woe is me" tone and you wonder, "What the hell do you have to be so sad about?" I associate her with the mood of every western female champing at the bit to file for her first divorce. Listening to her makes me think, too, of the depression of the modern American female. It seems that singers like this make hopelessness, unhappiness, and depression worse in women.

3) Her atmospheres seem always the same: Gothic gloom. Even when she throws in a great cellist, it sounds like more of the same.

4) Her melodies are not especially unique or noticeably original. Wallpaper melodies. Enya totally blows her away for originality of melody, vocal arrangement, and sophistication of production. McKennitt's not in the same class. And Enya includes happier melodies and nobody needs Zoloft after listening. Enya frequently evokes the Gregorian Chant in her melodies and recording -- just one of many unique spices that make Enya more interesting. (Comparing them is relevant because they are in the same genre.)

Again, no offense if you like her. Hard to account for taste in music. Her good points, IMO:

McKennitt is good for lush atmospherics; that "ambient" sound that comes from lots of multi-tracking and very good engineering. Her voice (minus the sad) is decent as a voice. Plus, she sings like a White woman, which is getting hard to find. So that gives her back at least 50 points. :)

[il ragno]

I mostly agree. It's not musically unworthy, but it is a little uninteresting. Her band's pretty good though.

As far as What the hell do you have to be so sad about?, though, I believe her fiancee was killed in some accident and she quit recording and touring for years afterward as a result.

So Julian, what do you think about Mostly Autumn?

[Julian Curtis Lee]

I know you have wide tastes in music. I've been out of the loop a long time. What is "Mostly Autumn"? I'd like to know. Autumn is my favorite season and I love music that evokes it.

[il ragno]

They're a UK collective of musicians who, at least for their first few cds, played a cross-hybrid of English folk and prog rock. (They're most often described as Pink Floyd meets Fairport Convention.) They're still around and recording but they may have changed their approach - their music is tough to find here, unless you like paying nosebleed import-prices.

You can find good-quality streaming audio of three tracks (complete, not excerpts) here:

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=251

(Scroll down a tad until you see Download (Stream) Free MOSTLY AUTUMN MP3 .) "The Gap Is Too Wide" is particularly nice.

I like em, and even if they're more echoing the great English folk/prog bands of the 70s than reinventing the wheel, they're at least picking up a torch worthy of being carried forward.

[Forza Azzurri]

Nice upload. I actually watched the PBS run of the "muse" concert.

[Ahknaton]

I prefer her over Enya to be honest.
I had a listen to this album last night. It's not bad, but I think Lisa Gerard is a better singer. "Gortoz a Ran" is one of my favourite songs ever.

[albion]

No offense to the guys who like her, but I find Loreena McKennitt:
1) Consistently melodramatic and emotionally "portentious" in a way that I associate with a certain type of self-absorbed 'new age" type female who you found all over California in the 1990's.
2) Mournfully depressing. Almost as bad as Sarah McClaughlin but more deliberately so. ...
3) Her atmospheres seem always the same: Gothic gloom. Even when she throws in a great cellist, it sounds like more of the same.
4) Her melodies are not especially unique or noticeably original. Wallpaper melodies. Enya totally blows her away for originality of melody, ...

http://www.satanservice.org/graphics/isaac-bonewits.jpg Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!
All you do is bitch... http://www.rosencomet.com/catalog/images/cdpix/Isaac-Be_Pagan.jpg
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . http://www.bumperart.com/ProductImages/2004012340_Display-35.gif
. . . . . . Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail away....
. . . . . . . . Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail away....
. . . . . . . . . . Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail away....
. . . . . . . . . . . . Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail away....

[Intellectual]

The problem with McKennitt is she didn't stay true to her racial heritage.

Right in the middle of her ancient pagan gaelic music, she experiments with Moor and north African music. It throws her off the path.

It's similar to Gaelic music going Christian with a Middle Eastern desert dance, it deconstructs what she really needs to be. Enya has more Gothic genes in her you can tell by looking. McKennitt is gael. The only reason she does North African and Middle East semitic music is because of her own insecurity with who she and her heritage is.

[Kriger]

The problem with McKennitt is she didn't stay true to her racial heritage.

Right in the middle of her ancient pagan gaelic music, she experiments with Moor and north African music. It throws her off the path.

It's similar to Gaelic music going Christian with a Middle Eastern desert dance, it deconstructs what she really needs to be. Enya has more Gothic genes in her you can tell by looking. McKennitt is gael. The only reason she does North African and Middle East semitic music is because of her own insecurity with who she and her heritage is.

Or maybe her music became influenced with Moor and Middle Eastern music because she simply likes it. I know I do. I also like the Tibetan monks and the Gregorian chants among many other types of music. What does any of that have to do with insecurity?

[Boleslaw]

I agree with Bamse Skjorta Kriger. Besides many other Celtic artists and bands have fused Arabic and African influences into their music as well.

[Intellectual]

I'm a proponent of diversity. I prefer genetic North African singers for their heritage music, and I prefer genetic Gael singers for their heritage music.

I like and appreciate diversity, if African is mixed with Gael, you get mush because musical forms take time to evolve.

[Boleslaw]

Not to sound like a multi-culturalist, but cultures often adopt attributes of others cultures and soon they become part of their heritage.

One example: we use Arabic numerals instead of Roman ones.

However, multiculturalists as usual often take a simple truth and exaggerate it beyond belief and "nationalists" choose to answer it with an equally exaggerated truth(concerning the integrity of cultural heritages).

[Intellectual]

It usually takes about 1,000 years for racial culture systems to merge in harmony.

I'd rather listen to Ravi Shankar than hear George Harrison try his best in a Beatles tune.

I find that when a race try to graft the music systems of other races onto their own, for about 1,000 years there is nothing but mush.

I think it's disrespectful to races and cultures to merge them together, as they loose their own unique ethnic identity. I guess you could say I'm just for Diversity.

[Boleslaw]

It usually takes about 1,000 years for racial culture systems to merge in harmony.

Not so. It can take any real length of time.


I think it's disrespectful to races and cultures to merge them together, as they loose their own unique ethnic identity.

True, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about using attributes of other cultures to help improve and enhance your own cultural traditions; it's still pretty much that culture's tradition. Or at least that culture's own particular twist to that tradition.

[Intellectual]

Not so. It can take any real length of time.

True, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about using attributes of other cultures to help improve and enhance your own cultural traditions; it's still pretty much that culture's tradition. Or at least that culture's own particular twist to that tradition.

The problem is music scales. Each culture has elevated their music scale system to reflect their vision of their universe.

Music is about perfection of an ethic, an artistic feeling, and maintained by the development of scales and systems.

It's very difficult to combine the Congo Bongo music scale with Indian Classical music scale. Because the collective has to understand it as well.