Review: -ish: Loreena McKennitt

Subject: RE: Review: -ish: Loreena McKennitt
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 04:35 PM

Phil's a wonderful musician, Don..very talented, plays a whole variety of intstruments. And he's pretty darn good at recording and producing these days, too. (also he's half...or even a third...of Show of Hands)

Phil 's Main Site...

a href="http://www.chudleighroots.co.uk/chudleighroots/index.cfm">Chudleigh Roots - Phil's Recording Thingummyjig..

>>>I am also enjoying the melodrama in this thread. Reminds me of my daughter's stories of the girl's locker room after band rehearsal. <<<

Oh, it's been like St. Trinian's for years now... ;0)

Subject: RE: Review: -ish: Loreena McKennitt
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 05:33 PM

Chudleigh Roots - Phil's Recording Thingummyjig..

Subject: RE: Review: -ish: Loreena McKennitt
From: Maryrrf
Date: 20 Dec 09 - 05:55 PM

I have listened to some clips of Loreena McKennitt - hadn't heard her in a while. Whatever one may think of her arrangements, her voice is gorgeous.

Subject: RE: Review: -ish: Loreena McKennitt
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 21 Dec 09 - 11:33 AM

what is acceptable "celtic music"

To me, only when it's played by the Full House line up of Fairport Convention - which is not very often now!

Subject: RE: Review: -ish: Loreena McKennitt
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 21 Dec 09 - 01:36 PM

Far too many people headlesschickening around trying to put an intellectual slant on everything.

Subject: RE: Review: -ish: Loreena McKennitt
From: black walnut
Date: 22 Dec 09 - 10:12 AM

From Loreena McKennitt:

Dear Friends,

I am sure I am not alone in being amazed at how quickly this year has swept by.

On the professional side, I am most grateful we were finally able to undertake most of our Mediterranean tour and meet so many of you in some new, as well as familiar corners of the globe – areas which had in many cases inspired An Ancient Muse. (To those in Morocco and Israel who we did not meet, we do hope to come to you in future.) Out of our tour we were able to render our experience into a project called A Mediterranean Odyssey, which was released this fall and which some of you may already have.

Much of the rest of this year has been spent attending to professional housekeeping matters, as well as a variety of personal ones all of which come with a richly varied life.

All of us here at Quinlan Road, and in particular myself, would like to express our deepest appreciation for your continued support and interest in my mode of 'musical travel writing' and for all your letters of interest, your support and appreciation – even your constructive criticism! The greatest reward is knowing that the music has found a meaningful place in your lives.

As the eve of the shortest day of the year approaches, once again there are so many things which come to mind. The joy of knowing that the days of light will now grow rather than diminish and not too far behind will be the signs of spring.

And of course, it is a time of stock taking – where we have come from (or through) this past year, what has or has not been 'accomplished' or has happened, or how that may shape our hopes and expectations for the coming year. And no matter how difficult or challenging things may have been this year, I am sure many of us could say things could have been much worse.

As a good friend so often says, "These are the good old days" and we may be well advised to enjoy and appreciate the present as much as long for better things in the future, no matter how short of the mark things may have fallen this year. In other words, life and all its challenges and wonders are a relative thing and there is much to be appreciated in the present. We must not let jewels of everyday life slip by us. These treasures may fall in the small and simple things, or even the familiar and mundane. We may simply not have taken the time to appreciate them.

And yet it is also a time for renewal and hope. While things may not have turned out as we might have wanted, we are open to new experiences and new opportunities and even new chances to improve who we are.

We would like to extend to all our friends around the world our warmest wishes for the Christmas and holiday season and the coming New Year.

LM

Subject: RE: Review: -ish: Loreena McKennitt
From: Big Mick
Date: 22 Dec 09 - 10:30 AM

I'm with George on this one. I perform Skellig and in the finding of that song, ifound I enjoyed much of Loreena' work. While I certainly understand how some performers become overly pretentious and caricatures of their own self image, I don't find that to be the case here.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Review: -ish: Loreena McKennitt
From: Nicholas Waller
Date: 22 Dec 09 - 12:50 PM

I like Loreena McKennitt's music, and I wouldn't say there's much that's wifty-wafty in the Enya style (though I don't care so much for her liner and web notes). Some of it, especially early stuff like To Drive The Cold Winter Away and bits of Elemental, are actually pretty austere. Her voice, and her approach, is is usually quite hard-edged too, not breathy.

I first heard her at the time of the Mask and Mirror album, which is not as austere (there's a fair number of instruments involved). Some of that sounds fairly aggressive and intense, such as Marrakesh Night Market, in a way that I don't associate with celtic waftiness.

Not to mention that her subject matter and influences (or purloinings if you prefer) range quite far afield with varying degrees of celtishness, from Tennyson and Shakespeare, some Irish, some Arabic, the Silk Road, the Caucasus, Spain, Istanbul and the eastern Med.

Every now and then I read that someone or other is a bit like Loreena McKennitt, but generally if I give them a listen I don't much care for them for one reason or another... possibly too much new age wifty waftiness. Not that I have given the whole field a good listen, but McKennitt does seem to me to be a one-of-a-kind.

At the moment, though, I am mostly listening to a lot of Muse. (And Ember and Kirsty McGee).

Subject: RE: Review: -ish: Loreena McKennitt
From: MuddleC
Date: 22 Dec 09 - 02:22 PM

I heard LM being played in a very nice cafe in Warwick (Les Ami's?)(now closed).. it was 'Lady of Shallott'..... I lost my footing ... and was taken up by the soundscape

I'm still there