THE SPELL of STORYTELLING
Traveling to mythic times and places through the music of Loreena McKennitt
Over the years I have come to realize the important role that music plays in my life. Music is the most universal language that we know. Through music we can travel outside ourselves or visit places deep in the soul. Music can make us laugh, cry, scream in anger or express our love.
THE MUSIC of STORYTELLING
In the 1990s I discovered the music of Loreena McKennitt. I have reacted to her work more strongly than I have to any other musician’s, feeling a deep connection with every aspect of her art. She weaves the compassion she feels for humanity into every song. Her music is crafted in layers and with reverence for the language of storytelling. Some of her songs are abridged versions of fables or poems from writers such as St. John of the Cross and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Other songs are crafted from her journals of extensive travel around the world and take us to wondrous places, times and cultures.
Five of my favorite songs inspired the pieces in this series.
The flagship piece, “The Bonny Swans,” is based on McKennitt’s ballad relating an old murder story: a girl, drowned by her jealous sister, is reincarnated as a swan and then crafted into a harp. The painting incorporates a portrait of McKennitt and elements of a medieval Celtic hand mirror and a Celtic harp. As a reference to the title of her 1994 release, The Mask and Mirror, which features this song, a mask obscures one side of McKennitt’s face. A sonogram in the lower right corner presents a visual map of her voice.
In “Dark Night of the Soul,” also from The Mask and Mirror, McKennitt visits the writings of the 15th century mystic St. John of the Cross. Much of John’s poetry is based on “Song of Songs” from the Old Testament and on lyrics of Spanish popular balladry. In McKennitt’s introduction she states that this poem is “a metaphoric love poem between himself and his god.” Because I came across the song at the time in my life when I was maturing in my own personal beliefs, the image in the painting is a self-portrait. The flame represents the burning light of love.
In her 1992 release, The Visit, McKennitt takes us on a musical journey with Lord Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott.” Tennyson’s poem is about a mystical woman who is ensnared in the web of a parallel reality where she can only view the “world” through a magical mirror. When she leaves the web to look out on the real world, her magic mirror cracks and the curse of her death is triggered. I chose to paint her lying in the boat raised forward on the frontal plane with the cracked mirror horizontally behind her to form the shape of a cross. In my version she embraces her fate.
The last two images in the series are based on songs
from McKennitt’s 1997 release, The Book of Secrets.
“The Highwayman,” derived from a colorful and richly descriptive poem by Alfred Noyes, is a tragic tale of two lovers bound together in life and death. Set in 18th century England, the story relates how the highwayman’s outlaw lifestyle brings about the demise of his loyal lover, Bess, along with his own. I chose to paint the doomed lovers as a wedding portrait framed by the doorway of the Old Inn.
“Dante’s Prayer” is a beautiful lyric that McKennitt wrote during her travels through Siberia. The landscape reminded her of Dante’s Divine Comedy and our desire to get beyond the “human condition.” My image depicts Dante merging with land and water.
All of McKennitt’s music affects me deeply. It is my hope that I have done visual justice to her wonderful gift of storytelling through music. She truly understands our human connections through time and culture, where “a good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” (Lao Tzu)
Research References:
• Echoes website: www.echoes.org
• Loreena McKennitt CD Release Booklets;
The Visit, ©1992 Warner Bros. Records Inc.
The Mask and Mirror, ©1994 Quinlan Road Limited
The Book of Secrets,©1997 Quinlan Road Limited
• Loreena McKennitt’s website: www.quinlanroad.com
• Wikipedia website
©2010 Anna Carll; Text and images
Edited by Sharon Coogle, Blue Ridge, GA
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