I have carried Loreena’s cassettes all over the world on our military parachute jumps, in Mongolia, China, Thaliand, South Africa and other places. As you can imagine, these tapes have been damaged and I am writing to you to replace the broken and destroyed tapes. I first became aware of Loreena's music years ago one autumn evening when a former roommate kept flashing me brief snippets from a PBS showing of No Journey's End while channel-surfing. Although it was just a taste, I was immediately entranced by the sound and the stories she unwittingly fed me (as I knew that there was no hope of wrestling the TV remote from her iron grasp!). Fortunately I was able to scribble down just enough information to track down who was responsible for this new door that had been opened for me. Within a short time (with the help of Yule and a couple of birthdays) I owned everything in print by this Canadian muse. Today, Loreena's music provides me with something few other musicians can...calm. You see, I am definitely a Type A individual. Always on the go, always achieving, striving, seeking. Gotta go! Gotta see! Gotta do! And it has been this way for a long time, despite any attempts by me to detour or take a rest. I hate meditation. I detest yoga. But somehow, when I hear her voice and the tales she's telling me, Loreena makes me pause and soon I am swept away. I can't explain it rationally, but it just seems that Loreena (and her music) respects me, and the recognition of this allows me to give her the attention her art deserves, which takes me away to a calm place, a place of serenity (part of me cringes when writing this, but that's the best way I have of explaining it!). I recently received my masters degree in counseling and I fully plan to somehow incorporating her music into my counseling sessions (with appropriate permission, of course, even though I won't be getting paid for many years!). Since I will mainly be working with gay and transgender teens and their families, in a world that sometimes can be less than understanding and tolerant, I'm sure I will have no problem finding opportunities to share with others the source of this peace that I've discovered. Donny H. I was introduced to Loreena's music four years ago and have been interested in her and her style of music ever since. I'm 23 and getting ready to go to college, looking along the field of music therapy. This field is much like art I believe, and I am eager to see what lies ahead. Before my father died in 2002, I sang an old familiar hymn to him, “Amazing Grace”. To that, he lifted his arms and smiled, brought them to his chest gently and died less than three minutes later. This was my inspiration to begin the search in music therapy. I hope it to be a hard, yet colorful and long season in my life of exploring the nature of voice, culture, etc. Also, in listening to Loreena these past few years, her songs have given me a vivid sense of direction in the style of music I'd like to enhance, Celtic. I recently received the gift-set of your CD's, along with the bonus DVD and video and I can't disagree with you that your sound could ever really be labeled as anything other than "world music". You've touched more souls than I could ever know! I used to stand and sway in circles holding my niece, while she laid her head on my shoulder as we would listen to you, so that she would fall asleep. Now, that I am back home and we have more of you to listen to I will enjoy the peace that I have missed. My family asks me how I get her to sleep and I tell them it's a secret! Kerry W. I am a 35 year old artist based in New York. I learned about Loreena's music at a time when every piece of music I have been listening to left me feeling empty. I heard "The Mummers’ Dance" on the radio some years back and I was overwhelmed with emotions. As an artist, music is very important to the creation of my work. Loreena's music is so powerfully visual and full of rich textures interwoven throughout each piece. I have been inspired and influenced greatly by it. As I learn more about who I am through my own creations, I have discovered that ideas fall into my lap when they need to and if I try to force something, it will fail. Loreena's music came to me when I needed it to. Now having all of her CDs, I cherish each song as if it was my own art. In fact, when not creating, my full time job to pay for my life's work is modeling for art schools and workshops. I play Loreena's music while posing and I have turned on many other artists in the six years I have been doing so. The drawings and paintings that come out of them seem more alive while the music is playing. AnnMarie T. Some months ago, on one of my many visits to a much-loved sister who lives in Massachussets I accompanied her on a visit with a local friend who is a new age healer. During the quiet conversation and sharing, a gentle music was playing from her stereo unit in the background. As we spoke I realised I was becoming increasingly aware of the beauty of this music, and focused on it more and more. Our conversation became gradually more halting, until eventually when I simply failed to respond to a question, she realised she no longer had any of my attention. Seeing me so distracted she simply smiled, walked over to the stereo and turned up the volume. Returning to sit with us she relaxed and joined us in allowing the music to wash over us. At this point we had reached “The Lady Of Shalott” from The Visit. I was completely transfixed. I had never heard such a perfect match of words and music before and it was utterly captivating. As the leader of an amateur Celtic fusion band employing a similar range of instruments I was very familiar with and deeply committed to the style and sound of the genre, but I was completely bowled over by the interpretation and execution of the piece. Of course I immediately bought a copy of the CD, and began to explore in much more detail and depth Loreena's other work which exhibits a similar genius. The combination of musical excellence and interpretation with spiritual expression that characterises her music has been at once an inspiration and a balm to the soul. I am awaiting her new album with great anticipation. I was delighted to hear that she is now again performing publicly and it is my ambition to hear and see her live. I recently came across the work of a Hungarian/English writer and performer who is similarly innovative in exploring spirituality through music and wondered if Loreena was aware of her or had had any contact. She records as Lila Mayi and has a website at www.lilamayi.uw.hu and has recently produced her first album Petitions. Her style is different but overlaps in the area of Spanish/gypsy influences with a common theme of expressing the spiritual. John H. We are two monastic communities, Mahayana Buddhist and Benedictine Catholic, who have used a piece of Loreena's music for our worship. We have recorded a song called (alternately) "Dedication of Merit," and "Compassionate and Wise." The song "Dedication of Merit" was born as an antidote to the grief and helplessness following 9/11 and the fall of the two towers. 250 Buddhists and Catholics had gathered at a Benedictine Convent in Indiana to investigate the Rule of St. Benedict from a Buddhist perspective (http://monasticdialog.com/conference.php?id=91). The nun in charge invited the Buddhists to provide a dedication of merit, a practice of sharing with the world all the goodness created by any wholesome action. Using the mind to broadcast goodness is an effective form of spiritual activism. The Abbot of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and I accepted the challenge and the night before the conference concluded, we managed to translate into English the 1300 year-old Chinese Buddhist verse. Needing a tune, my thoughts spontaneously recalled Ms McKennitt's "Dark Night of the Soul." I matched our translation and her melody and they joined like body and soul. The next day the participants, holding candles, processed out to the driveway of the convent, around the white marble image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who resembles in so many ways Guan Yin Bodhisattva, the Awakened Being of Great Compassion. I introduced the new song, saying, "After meritorious deeds of any sort, a Bodhisattva, an Awakened Being, can share the goodness with the world by making a wish and dedicating the merit. The scope of your mind and the sincerity of your heart determines the efficacy of your vows. When, as today, so many hearts dedicate together, the effect can change the world in profound ways." On that September day, one week after the attack in New York, our hearts that sought relief and healing carried our wishes aloft, borne by the new song. Ms McKennitt's melody delivered healing - - we could almost see the thoughts of the assembly take form and rise on the wings of sacred music. Dozens of people came forward afterwards and thanked me for the unexpected healing delivered by a Buddhist-Catholic liturgy, a song that sounded to them as familiar as a hymn and as powerful as prayer. This experience demonstrated to me the ability of music to move the heart and benefit the world, beyond religious boundaries. At another Buddhist-Christian meeting, after I heard Cyprian Consiglio, a Christian monk and fellow guitar player, lead the singing of intercessory prayers, I said to him, "We Buddhists have the same kind of practice," and told him about the song. After hearing it sung by my Buddhist congregation, he asked if he might sing it. He and his collaborator, John Pennington, adapted it a bit from my version, adding percussion, and a Sanskrit chant, the metta bhavana mantra. Since that day, Cyprian has performed the song to conclude liturgies and concerts around the globe, from India to Italy, from New Jersey to New Mexico. He calls it "Compassionate and Wise" and he reports the same response: people feel healed by the tune. Fr. Cyprian introduces it this way: "This is an intercessory prayer taught to me by my Buddhist brother monk, Rev. Heng Sure. The lyric is translated from Chinese and its melodic setting was written by a gifted Canadian composer, Loreena McKennitt. She wrote the melody for a verse by a Catholic Mystic, St. John of the Cross. I'm a Roman Catholic hermit and I've added a Sanskrit peace mantra to bring it full circle. I'm on this bridge to world peace and I'm staying on it!" Fr. Cyprian and John Pennington have recorded the song but not released it; now the three of us are thrilled to learn that Ms McKennitt has most graciously given permission for us to circulate the song, and continue its healing ministry. Our respective Buddhist, Catholic and Interfaith congregations will be grateful, and living beings can benefit. I hope that our versions will result in heightened interest in Ms McKennitt's the "Dark Night of the Soul" tune and her on-going ministry of setting of transcendent lyrics into transcendent melodies. Heng Sure Cyprian's "Compassionate and Wise." http://users.rcn.com/iwr/compassionate_&_wise.mp3 My "Dedication of Merit." http://users.rcn.com/iwr/dedication_of_merit.mp3 I work for Southwest Airlines here in Nashville, Tennessee. I just wanted to say how much Loreena's music helps me get through a work night at the airport. I have listened to her work for only two years now but I am glad that I have discovered it. I heard “The Mummers’ Dance” while just watching our planes take off at early twilight. A friend of mine said “Here, listen to this”, so I did. I felt so calm and reserved at that moment that I listened to this song for over 30 minutes straight. Her music with our planes climbing into the red-lit sky of twilight was a painting in motion. I have never been touched by a performer like I have with Loreena. I too grew up on a dairy farm here in the states and can feel nature moving in me when I listen to any of her CDs now. When my family and I or just me go out to our farm where I grew up, Loreena's music is with us (me). She has renewed a love and concern in me for nature and all she gives us. A gift so taken for granted, that one day it might not be there for us. Thank you Loreena and Quinlan Road for helping me get back to my farm roots. Roots that I am proud of!! Jeff L. One evening when I was listening to “The Mask And Mirror”, it occurred to me that I had once experienced the feel of the music in a book. I stood up, and began to search through my bookcase until I came upon my copy of “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. I began to read it and realized that your recording is like a musical interpretation of this book. The book is about a Spanish shepherd boy named Santiago (coincidence?) who decides to follow his personal legend by going to look for a treasure at the pyramids in Egypt. Along the way, he begins to understand the soul of the world and that all things are one. It is a wonderful book that you should read if you haven't already done so. Thank you very much for allowing me the experience of re-reading a wonderful book. Gabriel H. I came across Loreena's music by chance in 1994. At the time I was a university student with very little money yet wanting to experience something of Celtic heritage, yet different. I was recommended the album “Elemental”. The years passed and in January 1999 I was getting married. As fate would have it, I came across “The Mask And Mirror” and “The Book Of Secrets”. I was captivated by the haunting and thought-provoking sounds of the mélange of North African, Spanish and Turkish sounds. I fell in love with “Marrakesh Night Market” and “Marco Polo”. So where is this leading to? As I said, I was getting married and a honeymoon destination was yet to be decided … until now. Morocco was the choice. My soon-to-be wife and I were listening to “Marrakesh Night Market” accompanied by the merriment of red wine on a late evening and reading your words of the night of March 16, 1993. In short, your music kind of gave us our honeymoon memories. Your short description of Marrakesh at night was exactly what we came to experience and so much more. So for us, your music brings back very fond memories of places of such sights, smells and experiences that will always remain precious to us. We now await the years when we can take our two sons to experience those same delights. Lawrence D. I'd like to say thank you to Loreena for the peace and tranquillity she provides to our home on a daily basis. My five-year-old daughter Lottie has been listening to Loreena McKennitt for about five and a half years, (myself about eight) and she goes to sleep every night listening to her music. My auburn-haired daughter is my great joy but greatest challenge: her feistiness is part of her personality but perhaps also a common trait to all girls blessed with auburn hair (being one myself and knowing several of similar temperament). I listened to Loreena's music during my pregnancy, when I needed some calm to unwind, and in the middle of the night when I could not sleep with the heaviness of pregnancy. This tradition has been continued for Lottie since the day she came home from hospital, to help her relax, for security, comfort and company and to help her sleep at afternoon rest time and nights. Her favourite CD is “The Book Of Secrets” and her favourite songs, “The Mummers’ Dance” and “Dante's Prayer”. I tell her this is what the angels in heaven sound like. When all other tricks have failed, Loreena's music helps her calm down, even if her mood is fighting sleep or at its darkest. We both thank you for your gift of music and song and know it is one that we will always treasure. Maggie and Lottie My daughter Teresa Marie died tragically at age 14 years due to a doctor’s incompetence. In her short lifetime, she loved Loreena's music and actually sang Bonny Portmore in a talent show at her middle school. We played Loreena's music in the background at the funeral home for those two days of viewing...it calmed all of us and brought us peace during the nightmare that we were all living; the loss of our only daughter. She loved Loreena's music so much that we took her and her twin brother to Chicago to see her perform live. It was a wonderfully enchanted evening, a night to remember and cherish forever. It was to be my daughter's only live concert and what a meaningful one it was. Thank you for your music... it’s brought joy, peace and memories to my family. Linda I am a novelist with 20 published books behind me, but your music, which I began listening to several years back, re-awakened my interest in Celtic and other legend and myth. And I began to research the medieval era from the Dark Ages to the birth of the Renaissance, and I attribute that burgeoning interest mainly to your music. I've now been writing some medieval fantasy novels, based on research, and I listen to your music constantly while writing, to the exclusion of others. Admittedly, in the past I mainly have written supernatural horror, ghost stories, and suspense novels, but it looks like I'm moving more and more into medieval fantasy. I wanted to thank you. Your “Annachie Gordon”, and “The Lady Of Shalott”, and “The Highwayman”, in particular, are favourites of mine that I find myself weeping over when I hear them. And for a 47 year old man, that's pretty amazing. Thank you. Douglas C.
|
