The Mask and Mirror (Remastered) Loreena McKennitt

• 1 The Mystic's Dream (Remastered) 07:43
• 2 The Bonny Swans (Remastered) 07:23
• 3 The Dark Night of the Soul (Remastered) 06:44
• 4 Marrakesh Night Market (Remastered) 06:30
• 5 Full Circle (Remastered) 05:57
• 6 Santiago (Remastered) 05:57
• 7 Cé Hé Mise Le Ulaingt? / The Two Trees (Remastered) 09:09
• 8 Prospero's Speech (Remastered) 03:29
• Total Runtime 52:52

Info for The Mask and Mirror (Remastered)

A recording of Loreena’s ground-breaking 1994 recording, The Mask and Mirror, was captured live at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco on May 19th 1994, originally for radio syndication throughout the U.S. and Canada.

All this is in celebration of the 30th anniversary of what was, at the time, Loreena’s just-released fifth studio album, The Mask and Mirror, a recording that was celebrated by fans and critics alike for its trail-blazing intermingling of Celtic, Spanish and Moroccan influences.

“I have come to use the pan-Celtic history, which spans from 500 BC to the present, as a creative springboard”, says Loreena McKennitt. “The music I am creating is a result of travelling down that road and picking up all manner of themes and influences, which may or may not be overtly Celtic in nature. With The Mask And Mirror I began my journey in Galicia, the Celtic corner of Spain, and I moved on from there as I continued on my own historical and musical pilgrimage. I looked back and forth through the window of 15th century Spain, through the hues of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, and was drawn into a fascinating world: history, religion, cross-cultural fertilization.”

Self-produced and boasting an exotic palette of instrumentation from cello and uillean pipes to dumbeg, tabla and oud, Loreena’s fifth album was released in 1994 and has since sold several million copies worldwide. Spanning Spanish, Celtic and Moroccan influences, it follows paths of inspiration from Ireland to Santiago de Compostella to the Middle East. Accompanying musical settings of poems by St. John Of The Cross and Shakespeare are eclectic, richly-textured originals including a seductively dramatic “The Mystic’s Dream” and “Marrakesh Night Market”.

In its journeys, it examines, says Loreena, the questions that echo down the centuries: “Who was God? What is religion, what spirituality? What was revealed and what was concealed … and what was the mask and what the mirror?”

“I started this recording by travelling to the Galician, or Celtic region of Spain, and then on to Marrakesh and parts of Morocco where I journeyed down into the desert looking for inspiration,” says Loreena. “This took me into music and literature connected to 15th-century Spain, through the hues of Judaism, Islam and Christianity and I was drawn into a fascinating world of history, religion and cross-cultural fertilization.”

The tracks on The Mask and Mirror Live feature many beloved songs, including ‘Marrakesh Night Market,’ ‘Full Circle,’ ‘The Mystic’s Dream’ and ‘The Bonny Swans’.

The Mask and Mirror went on to sell a million copies in the United States and more than two million worldwide. It represented a major turning point in Loreena’s career, as well as a commercial breakthrough across four continents. It earned platinum sales awards in Canada, Australia, Italy and the U.S., plus gold awards in Spain, France, Argentina and Germany, and cultivated new followers in Greece, Turkey, Scandinavia, Brazil, Mexico and Chile.

“Music full of somber depths, spiritual longings and age-old echoes,” wrote the LA Times in May 1994.

As you know, Loreena will also be heading out this summer on The Mask and Mirror 30th Anniversary Tour through multiple European countries. She’ll be performing every song on the original album, in the order they appeared on the recording, appearing at many of the outdoor musical festivals and in some historically-magnificent venues, like the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens.

During her recently-concluded 10-country The Visit Revisited Anniversary Tour through Europe this spring, limited vinyl copies of The Mask and Mirror Live were offered to concert-goers at merchandise stands. Due to their popularity, we decided to speed up the album production schedule and add a CD version in time for the upcoming summer tour. The spring tour was an enormous success with almost all dates sold out and more than 60,000 tickets sold.

Loreena McKennitt

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.