Loreena Mckennitt (1985) Elemental

Loreena McKennitt is a Canadian singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist, She was born in 1957, in the province of Manitoba. She is best known for producing world music albums that encompass both Celtic and Middle Eastern themes…

Loreena McKennitt is a Canadian singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist, She was born in 1957, in the province of Manitoba. She is best known for producing world music albums that encompass both Celtic and Middle Eastern themes…

Nights from the Alhambra chronicles ethereal Canadian Celtic/folk/worldbeat artist Loreena McKennitt's 2006 tour in support of her Ancient Muse album. Recorded in September in the Palace of Charles V at the Alhambra, a southern Spanish fortress on the eastern border of the city of Granada built by the Moors, McKennitt employed a 12-piece band that included hurdy-gurdy, oud, uilleann pipes, kanoun, strings, and multiple percussion players. Though there is an emphasis on works from her most recent release, the singer/composer/harpist covers a wide breadth of material from 1985's Elemental ("She Moved Through the Fair") to 1991's acclaimed Visit ("All Souls Night," "Lady of Shalott") and beyond. As with all of her studio recordings, the sound quality is exquisite, making this – her third live collection – the best yet.

Loreena McKennitt recorded her 1985 debut on a farm in southern Ontario, a pastoral setting that infuses every note on Elemental with atmosphere and rustic simplicity. What's immediately striking is the Canadian harpist's fully realized voice. Most artists take years to hone their pipes, and that McKennitt brings a nearly finished version to the table on her first outing is not only notable, it's revelatory. McKennitt presents an evenly distributed mix of new age and contemporary Celtic that evokes the work of Enya, Clannad, and Capercaille, adapting the words of Yeats ("Stolen Child") and Blake ("Lullaby") as effortlessly as she rearranges traditional folk songs like "The Blacksmith" or "Banks of Claudy"…

Recorded in various halls and abbeys in Ireland, and completed in the Church of Our Lady in Guelph, Ontario, harpist/arranger/vocalist Loreena McKennitt's first foray into the crowded field of holiday music – she would go on to release an EP called Winter Garden in 1995 – is steeped in old-world atmosphere. To Drive the Cold Winter Away celebrates the winter solstice through eight traditional English, Scottish, and Irish carols and ballads and two Mckennitt originals. The artist's reverence for her source material is moving…