The Book of Secrets (Remastered) Loreena McKennitt

• 1 Prologue (Remastered) 04:22
• 2 The Mummers' Dance (Remastered) 06:04
• 3 Skellig (Remastered) 06:10
• 4 Marco Polo (Remastered) 05:17
• 5 The Highwayman (Remastered) 10:18
• 6 La Serenissima (Remastered) 05:08
• 7 Night Ride Across the Caucasus (Remastered) 08:29
• 8 Dante's Prayer (Remastered) 07:11
• Total Runtime 52:59

Info for The Book of Secrets (Remastered)

"The Book of Secrets" is the sixth studio album by Loreena McKennitt, released in 1997. It reached #17 on the Billboard 200. The lead single of the album, "The Mummers' Dance," remixed by DNA, was released during the winter of 1997–98, and peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #17 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The album is certified double-platinum in the United States. It has now sold more than four million copies worldwide.

Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu’s words are a good introduction to the third album in a trilogy of musical travel documents that began with The Visit. Recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios in England, The Book Of Secrets was written and researched all over the world, and, following its release in 1997, would go on to sell several million copies around the globe.

The album features a cast of over two dozen musical collaborators, and the eight songs contained therein, including North American hit single “The Mummers’ Dance”, leads the listener on unexpected journeys. Follow the music from ancient Byzantium to a puppet-maker’s theatre in Sicily, or from the rocky island of Skellig Michael once inhabited by Irish monks in the Dark Ages to Venice and the journeys of Marco Polo, or from the tragic narrative of “ The Highwayman” to the thunder of hooves across the Caucasus and the echoes of Dante’s words found, unexpectedly, in a train journey across Siberia.

“Over a number of years spent ruminating on the distinctive characteristics of the Celts, I began to wonder if their legendarily nomadic ways arose from an inner need. An involuntary response, rather than a pragmatic one; a restlessness that had its roots in an insatiable curiosity. I suspect it was my growing awareness of my own wanderlust and curiosity that made me aware of the real sense of connection I felt to the Celtic lineage, as part of that New World extension of a people who ranged so astonishingly far and wide. And the more I learned of pan-Celtic culture and its unexpected turns and twists, the more I was drawn to learn about the Celts’ contemporaries, which in turn set me off on tangents which might have little or no connection to the Celts themselves.

In casting your inspirational net as an artist, you become familiar with the humility that comes with watching your best-laid plans veer sideways, and recordings becoming something other than what you expected. So, you set out to travel to Rome . . . and end up in Istanbul. You set off for Japan. . . and you end up on a train across Siberia. The journey, not the destination, becomes a source of wonder.

In the end, I wonder if one of the most important steps on our journey is the one in which we throw away the map. In jettisoning the grids and brambles of our own preconceptions, perhaps we are better able to find the real secrets of each place; to remember that we are all extensions of our collective history.

These songs have been assembled like a mosaic, with pieces collected and fitted in one by one. They are also the souvenirs that come of sifting through shards of history and scraping away layers to reveal the fragile past, as I saw in Italy at an archaeological site at Chianciano Terme where ancient Roman layers reveal even more ancient Etruscan layers, or at the burial site of a mysterious Celtic chieftain in Orvieto.

My hope was that this recording might fuel curiosity in the same way as do the best books of travel stories. From all journeys, be they imaginative or geographic, the most important souvenirs to be collected are the reminders that people’s lives are fortified by family and friends; by our ability to create our lives like creating a piece of art; and by our efforts to reconcile our material needs with the importance of our connections to each other.” – Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennitt, vocals (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8), piano (track 8), keyboards, harp (track 6), kanun (track 1), accordion (tracks 4, 5)
Anne Bourne, cello (track 6)
Aidan Brennan, acoustic guitar (track 3), mandola (tracks 4, 7)
Martin Brown, acoustic guitar (track 5), mandolin (track 5), mandola (track 5)
Stuart Bruce, assembled drone (track 1), vocal drone (4)
Paul Clarvis, snare drum (track 5)
Nigel Eaton, hurdy-gurdy (track 2, 4)
Steáfán Hannigan, bodhrán (track 5)
Nick Hayley, sarangi (track 7), rebec (track 7), lira da braccio (track 7)
Brian Hughes, oud (tracks 2, 4, 7), electric guitar (tracks 1, 5), acoustic guitar (tracks 4, 5, 7), irish bouzouki (tracks 4, 5, 7), guitar synthesizer (track 4), classical guitar (track 6), vocal drone (track 4)
Robin Jeffrey, Victorian guitar (track 6)
Martin Jenkins, mandocello (tracks 3, 4, 5, 7)
Manu Katché, drums (tracks 1, 2, 4, 7)
Caroline Lavelle, cello (tracks 2, 5, 8)
Rick Lazar, percussion (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 7)
Joanna Levine, viola da gamba (tracks 3, 6)
Hugh Marsh, violin (tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Osama, violin (track 4)
Steve Pigott, additional keyboards (tracks 3,8)
Donald Quan, tabla (tracks 2,4,7), timba (track 1), esraj (track 1), viola (tracks 2,4,5,6,8), additional keyboards (tracks 3,4), vocal drone (track 4)
Hossam Ramzy, percussion (tracks 2,4,5,7)
David Rhodes, electric guitar (track 2)
Danny Thompson, acoustic bass (tracks 2,3,4,5,7,8)
Bob White, tin whistle (track 3), shawm (track 4)
String Quartet:
Jonathan Rees, 1st violin (tracks 3,7)
Iain King, 2nd violin (tracks 3,7)
Andy Brown, viola (tracks 3,7)
Chris van Kampen, cello (tracks 3,7)
Caroline Dale, string arrangements (tracks 3,6,7)

Digitally remastered

Loreena McKennitt
is well known as a composer and singer. In a recording career spanning more than three decades, Ms. McKennitt’s ‘eclectic Celtic’ music has received critical acclaim world-wide, and gold, platinum and multi-platinum sales awards in 15 countries across four continents. To date, she has sold over 14 million albums with a catalogue that includes seven studio recordings, three seasonal recordings, a live in-concert DVD and two DVD documentaries. She’s won two Junos, Canada’s premiere music award, and has performed for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Less well known is the fact that Ms. McKennitt is a highly successful businesswoman who has created an independent record label with celebrated international success.

Born in Morden, Manitoba, Canada, she moved to Stratford, Ontario in 1981, where she initially worked with Canada’s renowned Stratford Festival. In 1985 she established her own record label, Quinlan Road, a move which has made her a rarity in the music industry.

In the early years, Ms. McKennitt ran the operation from her kitchen table, selling her recordings by mail order and producing her own concert tours. Today, she leads her own company with responsibilities that include everything from creating strategic business plans to overseeing marketing and promotion.

Ms. McKennitt’s business acumen is also applied to the three charitable foundations she established. Her Three Oaks Foundation provides financial support to cultural, environmental, historical and social groups.

The Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety, founded in 1998, has raised more than $4 million in support of water safety education, as well as search, rescue and recovery operations.

In 2000, Ms. McKennitt purchased a recently-closed public school in Stratford and transformed it into the Falstaff Family Centre. Responding to concerns identified by the local community, the Centre focuses on the needs of families and children in Perth County, Ontario, which is where she resides.

Ms. McKennitt’s passion for business is matched by her passion for human rights. In 2006 and 2007 she was involved in a landmark human rights privacy case in Britain, where the courts ruled in her favour. The judgment, which was upheld by the House of Lords, has helped to advance privacy law around the world.

Ms. McKennitt is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba. In 2002 and 2012 she was the recipient of Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals and in 2013 she was appointed to the rank of Knight of the National Order of Arts and Letters by the Republic of France.

From 2006 to 2013 Ms. McKennitt held the position of Honorary Colonel of the 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron in the Royal Canadian Air Force and upon completion of the appointment was awarded the RCAF Commander’s Commendationin recognition of outstanding professionalism and dedication.

She also holds honourary degrees from the University of Manitoba (Winnipeg), Sir Wilfrid Laurier University (Waterloo), Queen’s University (Kingston) and George Brown College (Toronto).

This album contains no booklet.