The Mask and Mirror

Like most of Loreena McKennitt's albums, The Mask and Mirror is heavily influenced by her travels. Her experiences in Spain and Morocco specifically, serve as the inspiration for this album.

"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... For some medieval minds the mirror "was the door through which the soul frees itself by passing"... for others the pursuit of personal refinement was likened to "polishing the mirror of the soul." From the more familiar turf of the west coast of Ireland, through the troubadours of France, crossing over the Pyrenees and then to the west through Galicia, down through Andalusia and past Gibraltar to Morocco... The Crusades, the pilgrimage to Santiago, Cathars, the Knights Templar, the Sufis from Egypt, One Thousand and One Nights in Arabia, the Celtic imagery of trees, the Gnostic Gospels... who was God? and what is religion, what spirituality? What was revealed and what was concealed... and what was the mask and what the mirror?" -- Loreena McKennitt, Introduction to The Mask and Mirror

[edit] Track listing

"The Mystic's Dream" – 7:40
"The Bonny Swans" – 7:18
"The Dark Night of the Soul" – 6:44
"Marrakesh Night Market" – 6:30
"Full Circle" – 5:57
"Santiago" – 5:58
"Cé Hé Mise le Ulaingt? The Two Trees" – 9:06
"Prospero's Speech" – 3:23

[edit] Song information

"The Mystic's Dream" was featured in the 2001 miniseries, The Mists of Avalon, based on the novel of the same title by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
"The Bonny Swans" has been made into a video.
"The Dark Night of the Soul" is based on the poem "Dark Night of the Soul"^[1] by St. John of the Cross.
"Santiago" is named after the Spanish city Santiago de Compostela and by the saint that carries its name.
"The Two Trees" takes its lyrics from a poem by William Butler Yeats.
"Prospero's Speech" is the final soliloquy and epilogue by Prospero in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
"Marrakesh Night Market" has been covered by Greek singer Kalliopi Vetta in her album Sto Phos.