Townsman, 1991-09, Page 10debut album Elemental was followed
by a Christmas release To Drive the
Cold Winter Away. The third, Paral-
lel Dreams, was released in 1989.)
"It was at this time that I began to
focus on my own thing," she said. "I
have been developing and honing my
"It was at this time
I began to focus"
musical stamp ever since and am writ-
ing more material rooted to Celtic terri-
tory.
In her writing, she attempts to be, not
just traditional, but endeavours to tie in
some cultural or historical threads. "The
Visit is in three different senses. The
creative importance is a kind of visita-
tion where I explore the image of the
Celtic people," she explains. This fol-
lows not so much as a visit with the
ones we know of as Celtic, but the soci-
ety that came from tribes that existed in
Eastern Europe and India, then worked
thcir ways through Europe before being
driven to the western fringes which arc
the British Isles. "The remnants of this
arc reflected in the structure of this soci-
ety and I find that exciting," says Ms
McKennitt.
The third visit is the belief of many
cultures in the forms of reincarnation.
The Celtic people, Ms McKennitt says,
believed the souls of their ancestors
could be found in trees, something not
dissimilar from the beliefs of our own
native people. Ultimately, these themes
that fascinated the artist arc the ones
woven in and out of her newest record-
ing.
Dthing Out?
Check the
dining listings
in Townsman
before your decide
From philisophical drama to simple
stories, the pictures created by her
music are captivating. The first cut on
The Visit taps into cultural ties and tra-
ditions. 'All Souls' Night' presents the
imagery of the Celtic Hallowe'en on
New Year's Eve, when bonfires are lit to
keep souls warm. A second cut, based
on William Shakespeare's Cymbeline is
a commentary on this earthly visit, we
all are experiencing. "The first line,
'Fear no more the frown of the great',
means essentially, that whether you are
a chimney sweep, a tree, or animal, it
[life] all comes to dust."
Another song on the album, is one
the artist calls, "a very dark version of
`Grcenslecves'. It was never intended to
be recorded at all," she explains. "But, I
sang it one day, and an engineer record-
ed it. It fit into this recording, so I
decided to include it."
Deciding what will be part of her
album is just one of the many fine
details, Ms McKennitt takes a firm
stand on. "I come to my work, knowing
what I want to express and how to cre-
ate around it in a way that satisfies me.
That can be difficult for some record
companies," she said using her last
album Parallel Dreams as an example.
"Polygram had put up $10,000 for
me to write and record four tunes, three
of which ended up on Parellel Dreams,"
she said. But when she played one track,
`Dickens' Dublin', the company didn't
know what to do with it. The cut, is a
fascinating piece, with young inner-city
children relating their poignant version
of The Nativity. Polygram didn't feel the
song was marketable, but McKennitt
stood her ground and finished Parallel
Dreams the way she believed it was
meant to be. `Dickens' Dublin' has
become one for the most loved songs on
the album and has been described in a
publication as "a memorable aural sam-
ple of ancient story -telling skills that
survive, somehow, amid technologicial
clutter of an age that is fast forgetting its
sources."
"There has been a lot of response
from that song. It's exciting for me to
find that even without the distribution
the album has gone on to sell 25,000
copies. It gave me a great deal of confi-
"You just need
people with
vision"
dence, letting me see there is a place for
this genre of music. You just need peo-
ple with the vision." That is something
she believes she as found in her partner-
ship with Warner Brothers. "Because of
the success of Parallel Dreams I have
been approached by virtually every
label. I am finding myself in the posi-
tion of making money, although I'm cer-
tainly not at the saturation mark, but I
felt I could sit back and wait until the
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