a r t i s t : Loreena Mckennitt
t i t l e : An Ancient Muse
d a t e : 2006
l a b e l : Quinlan Road
g e n r e : Folk
r l s. d a t e : Nov/2006
t r a c k s : 09
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 77,3 MB
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This autumn, Verve /Quinlan Road will release Loreena
McKennitt's label debut, An Ancient Muse. As with
her earlier albums, McKennitt takes her inspiration from the
Celtic peoples, fusing the melodic sensibility of
Scottish and Irish balladry with musical traditions from
Greece, Turkey, Spain, and even Scandinavia. The
recording is McKennitts first new studio album since 1997’s
multi-platinum The Book of Secrets.
Produced by Loreena McKennitt, An Ancient Muse continues
McKennitts exploration of Celtic themes on a
journey that sweeps across eras and musical genres, from the
British Isles to ancient Greece and Byzantine- and
Ottoman-era Turkey. As McKennitt herself describes it, "This
record is a little like equipping yourself with a
Eurail card. It's like saying, I don’t know where I'm going to
on this trip. I'm just going to get on board the
train, and allow each encounter to lead to the next."
The nine tracks on An Ancient Muse take the listener on a
timeless journey: a return home in "The Gates Of
Istanbul;" the wonder of nomadic wandering in "Caravanserai;"
star-crossed love and the Crusades in "The
English Ladye and the Knight" based on a poem by Sir Walter
Scott; and loss and longing in "Penelope's
Song," which takes as its subject Odysseus' wife, waiting and
worrying while he was off having the adventures
immortalized in Homers The Odyssey. Despite the wide array of
instrumentation (including oud, lyra, Swedish
keyed fiddle and viols da gamba), all the performances derive
from similar inspiration: the sense of landscape
McKennitt brings to all of her work—a visual set of images,
organically connecting the piece to musician and
instrument.
McKennitt works from her hometown of Stratford, Ontario,
Canada where she is self-managed, self-produced,
and head of her own internationally successful record company,
Quinlan Road. In a recording career spanning
two decades, her music has won worldwide critical acclaim and
gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards in
fifteen countries across four continents. She has won numerous
awards including the Billboard International
Achievement Award and two Juno Awards.
McKennitt says of her collaboration with Verve: "In so far as
this recording represents a musical journey of
exploration, I am very much looking forward to working with
the people at Verve in exploring the possibilities
this new musical document may embody." "Loreena is a truly
gifted artist, producer, and business person," says
President and CEO of the Verve Music Group Ron Goldstein. “The
new album will surely please her dedicated
and loyal audience, who have been anticipating this event for
a long time. It is, once again, a masterpiece of
originality, spirit, and great music. We are thrilled she has
chosen to work with Verve."
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01-incantation [02:35]
02-the gates of istanbul [06:59]
03-caravanserai [07:36]
04-the english ladye and the knight [06:49]
05-kecharitomene [06:35]
06-penelope's song [04:22]
07-sacred shabbat [04:00]
08-beneath a phrygian sky [09:29]
09-never-ending road (amrán duit) [06:01]
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54:26 min
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