Loreena McKennitt: A Moveable Musical Feast

LOREENA: As a singer, some people have asked me, well, do I like the research best or do I like the recording process or whatever.

And now I've come to feel that the performance side is... the whole thing is like creating a meal for friends-- that you go out shopping for ingredients, you go to your kitchen, and you try out this recipe and that, which is like the songs.

And then you invite everybody over for dinner, and you kind of sit them down.

Until one actually shares that meal with someone, it feels like you haven't completed the whole process.

Na na na na te dum na na na na na dum te dum La la la la la dum te dum na na la la la la dum te dum Na na na la la dum te dum te ta ta tum ta da ta dum Te ta ta tum de da dum... See there past that far-off hill towers held in the sky Hear there in that dark-blue night the music calling us home See there past that far-off field flowers turned to the sky Feel there in that dark-blue night the music calling us home Stars may always guide our way from desert sands where winds blow harsh and long Here's where our hearts will pray And all our loves will slumber with a song... And stars may always guide our way From desert sands where winds blow harsh and long Here's where our hearts will pray And all our loves will slumber with a song So now if our hearts be true And like a pool of truth reflect the sun We will find right honor there And keep us safe and lead us from all harm So come, love let us dance all night Until the birds they waken at the dawn So come, love let us sing all night And all our loves will slumber with a song... So come, love let us dance all night Until the birds they waken at the dawn So come, love let us sing all night And all our loves will slumber with a song...

So come, love let us dance all night Until the birds they waken at the dawn So come, love let us sing all night And all our loves will slumber with a song La-la la-la la-la la-la la-la la-la la-la la La-la la-la la-la la-la la-la la-la la-la la La-la la-la la-la la-la la-la la-la la-la la-la.

ROGER: Touring is... nobody in their right mind would do it.

LOREENA: It is a very, very intense environment.

In my particular situation, we are touring with sometimes over 30 people.

It's like moving a little hamlet around every day and mounting a show and dismounting it every single day.

And as an executive producer, I'm ensuring that all manner of timeline, budgetary, contractual things have been covered off.

So it means living in a different side of your brain.

Meanwhile, back in creative land, how are we doing?

LARRY: I think she does everything but, you know, drive the bus.

I wouldn't be surprised if she does that on some tours as well too.

LOREENA: And I have to now go find walkie-talkies.

It's just a lot of grunt work.

There are times where I might be doing some exercise of business almost five or ten minutes right up to show time.

MAN: Where are you guys going?

LOREENA: The same place you are.

You've reached hopefully that point of preparation that you feel comfortable with the lyrics, the arrangement, the infrastructure, and here you are finally at the precipice of being able to share that with the public.

The trepidation, of course, comes in if, you know, something doesn't unfold quite as it should.

And every once and again, that happens.

I've also found myself, in a funny kind of way, becoming more shy.

It's a kind funny quality or capacity when, you know, what you do is actually standing in front of so many people.

I feel quite comfortable opening up the performance environment.

BRIAN: And after 20 years, I mean, I do have a very good idea of what it is she wants in terms of the sound and the stage sound.

It's kind of like a second set of ears for her.

D, F, yeah.

So after they do that in the middle of the song, that next verse is kind of like a breakdown thing, so you don't play in that verse.

LOREENA: When we gather people back, it's not always possible to duplicate the exact same team of people.

So when we refresh a tour, there is time that I need to spend with some individual musicians and ensure that they are looked after.

You know, everybody else is so up to speed, and they've got a steep learning curve.

STRATIS: Always a bit awkward until you get familiar and get to know your fellow musicians.

BRIAN: That part doesn't... that goes with... you do the chords with that, so... LOREENA: Right, just do that bit again.

BRIAN: That much.

LOREENA: No, just that last... BRIAN: Just that part?

Three, four... STRATIS: I had already kind of studied the tunes, but you have to play with the band to make it sound good.

It's not about the notes.

LOREENA: So that's the motion that we're trying to get.

It... it is difficult, because you have so many people, and they're... everyone is listening in a different way.

TAL: You got to hear the right balance to be in the pocket.

BRIAN: The better that gets, the better... the more likely it's going to happen.

TAL: The better everything... the easier is to achieve the pocket, because it's about listening.

If you try not to listen to somebody, you will never be in the pocket.

BRIAN: Obviously, the more musicians you have, the harder that is sometimes.

CLIVE: It's not just hearing.

It's about balance, and it's about musicality as well, so that they have something that inspires them to play.

DAVE: There's a lot of trust involved between the artist and me, because I can... like I said before, I could really screw them up.

If I turn things on or off at the wrong time, you know, it can really be distracting.

Here's it more... you're more... a bit more like the audio waiter, you know?

I'm just serving it up, what they want.

When you're mixing front of house, it's a bit more artistic.

CLIVE: There's really a lot going on.

There's an awful lot of challenges to mix this.

There's 11 really fabulous musicians onstage, and so the biggest challenge, really, for me, is to manage those and keep everybody in the mix and keep it sounding like music and keep it sounding like the record.

ROGER: This is a complete touring circus, and we walk into an empty room every day, and we create what they see.

And after the show, we pack it up, take it away, and go somewhere else and do it all over again.

DAVE: Typical show day is we're getting off a bus at a venue, then figure out how we're going to put the show on their stage, open the trucks and bring the stuff in, hang a lot of it from the roof, place staging underneath it, hang a sound system.

ROGER: Miles and miles of cable, loads of lights, loads of sound, bits of cloth, bits of string.

At a certain point in the day, it's a complete construction site.

We're hanging chains from the roof and lifting tons of stuff over people's heads.

There's a million heavy cases moving about.

Everybody gets their head down, and they get on with it, because ultimately, at 8:00 tomorrow evening, the house lights go out, Loreena walks out on the stage, and everything works.

LOREENA: Then the show is done, and the load t starts, and it might not finish till 2:00 in the morning.

The crew will get on their bus, crawling into their bunks for five hours maybe.

They get up, they pull up to the next venue at 8:00 in the morning, and it starts all over again the next day.

CLIVE: We've been to lots of famous cities and haven't seen any of them.

MAN: Hotels and airports of the world.

CLIVE: Buses and venues.

LOREENA: Sometimes I feel touring is like an extreme sport.

I treat it as an athletic experience first and a creative one second.

TIM: You get... a certain exhaustion level kind of hits you, and when you have free time, even if you're awake, not really sleeping, it's like your concentration level is not great, you know?

So it's hard to be really creative.

CAROLINE: You come off after it, and that part of my brain kind of has given it all out.

And if somebody then wants to have a big chat with me, I'm trying to string words together.

I'm having difficulty, which normally I don't have.

LOREENA: I think that one of my greatest worries is my ability to remember lyrics.

When the dark night is... What is it?

What what?

No, no, but when the dark night is what?

BRIAN: Ended.

LOREENA: Ended?

BRIAN: Endless.

LOREENA: Okay, sorry.

BRIAN: I think it's the... you know, being away from people, away from their families, especially young children, it's difficult, and you know, just also maintaining your relationships.

You're kind of off with this sort of extended family.

GRANT: I think my wife and I figured out we hadn't actually an anniversary together in ten years, because that date just happens to fall in the middle of the touring season every year, and I'm not there.

So there you go.

The only way we can be together is if she comes... she's coming to me.

LOREENA: You get to know people, and you get know how they think and how they work and how to help them and how to avoid them.

People are away from home, and you can be away from those special little touches that just say, you know, "We're thinking of you; you're special."

( cheering and applause ) MAN: Happy Birthday!

MAN 2: Grant and Doris, celebrating their 12th anniversary tonight for the first time together.

( cheering and applause ) LOREENA: There are other ingredients that I think... that keep us somewhat healthy and happy.

LARRY: Watching her about a year ago in Massey Hall, the thing I got out of it was how much joy the musicians were having onstage.

TIM: Now it's so comfortable, and when people were really playing-- like last night, the first time through the show-- and it's starting to feel good.

BRIAN: Like, everybody's locked and playing... it's like the same kind of thought and the same feel and the same groove.

LOREENA: When I was learning to play the piano as a child, I was part of a children's choir.

And one of the great things about training in a children's choir or a choir is that you learn the principle that you are not always a focal point.

Part of the objective is to belong to a group, and that's what ensemble playing is.

You know who's leading with something and when you play a supporting role, and then when you play together.

And all of that psychology informs of whether you're playing in the pocket.

TIM: I mean, it seems like it's just improbable, it would never happen, but it does.

And when it does, it's a beautiful thing.

LOREENA: We've been rambling All through the night... It's an absolute exquisite moment to achieve.

And I think the public often feels it.

Most of the time I feel the audience and myself have... we've all become one, not only the musicians and myself become a unit; we've all become one.

It feels overpowering.

A few occasions where I find myself just fighting back tears just from... just... not because I'm sad or anything.

It's just because it's just so overwhelming, the human interaction of it.

( cheering applause ) Why do you go through all this trouble of touring and performing?

And I think that it really goes back to that feast analogy or that food analogy or that sharing-- that for me, the whole process does not feel complete unless you... you've been able to share it with other people.

The road now leads onward as far as can be Winding lanes and hedgerows in threes By purple mountains round every bend All roads lead to you there is no journey's end Here is my heart I give it to you Take me with you across this land These are my dreams so simple, so few Dreams we hold in the palm of our hands Deep in the winter amidst falling snow High in the air the bells they all toll Now all around me I feel you still here Such is the journey no mystery to fear Here is my heart I give it to you Take me with you across this land These are my dreams so simple, so few Dreams we hold in the palm of our hands... The road now leads onward I know not where Deep in my heart you will be there Whenever a storm comes whatever our fears The journey goes on as your love ever nears Here is my heart I give it to you Take me with you across this land These are my dreams so simple, so few Dreams we hold in the palm of our hands.

( cheering and applause ) Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org Upon a darkened night the flame of love was burning in my breast And by a lantern bright I fled my house while all in quiet rest Shrouded by the night and by the secret stair I quickly fled The veil concealed my eyes while all within lay quiet as the dead Oh night, thou was my guide oh night more loving than the rising sun Oh night that joined...