Broadcast on "Morning Becomes Eclectic",
KCRW-FM (US radio), December 20th, 1994
Transcribed By Ron Nixon
"Greetings
On Dec. 20th there was a interview and performance by McKennitt and her band on KCRW,
Santa Monica Ca. evidently recorded on Dec. 2nd 1994. Sorry I wasn't able to get it out closer to
Christmas. I just got a hold of a tape a friend made and wrote it down last night. There are bound
to be some mistakes and incidental omissions.
It was a very casual and warm interview which is of course very hard to convey -
as is the sweetness of her speaking voice."
Chris Douridas= C:
Loreena McKennitt = LM:
[...] denotes musical interludes
*...* include non-speaking additions
| C: | Next it's a Loreena McKennitt Christmas recorded live last week at KCRW. |
| [Dicken's Dublin (The Palace)] | |
| C: | We just heard a piece called Dicken's Dublin featuring a marvelous recording of a Dublin girl telling her version of the nativity scene I'm guessing. |
| LM: | Yes. I first heard it when I traveled to Ireland in 1981 and umm I met a veterinarian up in Donegal who had this cassette and at the time that I heard it I was interested in playing or creating a piece based on the plight of homeless people, then shifted my creative focus to writing a piece based on homeless children. She as you can imagine, she's trying very hard to remember how the priest had told that story over and over and where she draws a blank she's not afraid to fill in or add her own running commentary. |
| C: | I guess it was about 10 years ago you found that tape wasn't it. |
| LM: | Yes, Yes. *laugh* |
| C: | Well it's really children that bring out the magic of Christmas isn't it. |
| LM: | Yes. I think children seem to capture in a real purity kind of form the idea of what Christmas is about and they really latch on to those wonderful images of you know, Mary and Jesus, and the baby. |
| C: | It's interesting to me that you with so many pieces of music that bring to mind the holiday spirit that you haven't made a Christmas album yet. |
| LM: | Well, I umm embarked on a very specific project in '87 which was a compilation of more obscure Winter and Christmas carols. At that time my resources were very very limited. We recorded on location in monastery. But I haven't set out to do a full conceptualization of a Christmas recording. No. |
| C: | This is the closest thing to it at this point isn't it. |
| LM: | Yes *laugh* |
| C: | Are you in the Christmas spirit yet? |
| LM: | Yes. I think so. I mean it's always interesting. I personally get into the spirit when the seasons start to change and the light diminishes in the sky and much of my own personal research has been relative to the solstice time of the year so I feel very much leading up to it. |
| C: | So it's the seasons changing really that transforms your own umm... |
| LM: | Psyche. Yes. For myself I spend whatever time I can in the garden, and I find the garden is this great metaphor for the birth and death cycle of life, and so when one focuses in on other festivals whether it's the Hanukkah or Christmas there are various festivals throughout the centuries really and different cultures focus in on this time of the year. |
| C: | While we are hearing songs that come to mind once that Christmas spirit moves you. Loreena McKennitt in the studio with a great ensemble. Brian Hughes on guitar, Hugh Marsh violin, Donald Quan on tabla and accordion Steve Lukas acoustic base, Rick Lazar on percussion. |
| [Snow with transition into a full rendition of God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen] | |
| C: | *referring to band* All Canadians, everybody lives in Toronto, right. |
| LM: | Yes, Yes. We are pretty much all from Toronto. I live just outside of Toronto, but, cold Canadians *laugh*, but warm hearts (harps?) *laugh* |
| C: | Warm harps? |
| LM: | Yes *laugh* |
| C: | That's a harp joke, right. So I imagine when you think of Christmas it's full of snow and cold weather and fireplaces and. |
| LM: | Yes. Yes. From my part I grew up in the Canadian prairies. A few folks here are from Alberta but snow I think for everyone is a major feature of the season. Myself having spent a lot of time around the farm and I still live on a farm but now in southern Ontario. The whole imagery of rolling fields of snow umm dotted by these very stark trees across the landscape becomes a very powerful seasonal image. The temperature of course drives one in *laugh* and there are fires from time to time planned and otherwise *laugh*. |
| C: | Are there traditions in Canada at Christmas that we don't have in the United States that come to mind. |
| LM: | It's hard for me to tell. I think there might be some traditions par- particularly on the East coast. Now lets say for example in Newfoundland I know they have a New Year's tradition that goes back to shooting rifles off into the sky at night to mark the new year. I'm not exactly sure what the origins of that are. But up in the sky, they're not shooting at each other of course *laugh*. |
| C: | That's a whole other tradition. *laugh* You are speaking of the maritime provinces. |
| LM: | Yes, Yes. Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, again I think those provinces having a stronger Celtic background. I have not spent a lot of Christmases here so I can't really compare the two. but there is a real sense of community still even within major cities in Canada. |
| C: | Up next is a staple this time of year. Greensleeves. What's the origin |
| LM: | Well, Its a wonderful old melody. There are all sorts of ideas, whether it was King Henry VIII who originated the lyrics or not but yes I can do a version of that. |
| [Greensleeves and then Between the Shadows] | |
| C: | You make me think of something my mother use to always say. She would say, "I was born at the wrong time" *laugh*. I'm sure you get asked that a lot too. Do you think you were born in the wrong century or ..? |
| LM: | Well not really. I mean I think that part of my research has caused me to examine some earlier centuries fairly closely and I think times were pretty , pretty difficult and uncomfortable. Ummm, I think the thing that attracts me to older cultures however is the size of the communities, and the composition of these communities and that life was operating on a very integrated kind of way and you knew your own shopkeeper, you grew your own produce and I think it's easy to get trapped into a romantic notion of that but I think the bottom of that is a sort of yearning for a scale of life that you understand and that means something to you. So I find I'm drawn to examine those cultures but at the same time I think life was very, very difficult. |
| C: | Difficult but at the same time simpler in some ways. |
| LM: | Yes, Yes. We're a very old creature I think as a species and we have very primitive needs. Umm We're now living in a society where life is moving so fast and there's so much moving so fast, that I think we find it difficult to absorb and handle all the things that are coming at us. So I think this is partially what is so wonderful about the Christmas season, that it represents a simplicity. It represents an emphasis of community and spending time with friends and family and that is the value of the time. |
| C: | Well you're fond of going back in the past for inspiration. We see it time and again in your work. You have brought something today that is evidence of that. Coventry Carol. |
| LM: | Yes. This is a wonderful 15th century piece and has very strong elements of very primitive forms of the music, so we will do a bit of this for you. |
| C: | We're going to try an experiment here aren't we? |
| LM: | Yeah! |
| C: | You've come in with an idea and a very small book. |
| LM: | Yeah *laugh* |
| C: | Try something a little collaborative here. What made you think of this? |
| LM: | Well, I don't know. I remember many years ago hearing Dylan Thomas's "A Childs, Christmas on Wales", over the radio and being totally swept away by the imagery. He has a wonderful sensibility of the countryside and the people and personability of this community in Wales and so there is just a lot of imagery that really struck me in a warm fuzzy kind of way I suppose *laugh*. So I thought it might be kind of fun and since you're up for the sport. It would be great to try it together. |
| C: | OK. Here goes nothing, perhaps something. *laugh* |
| LM: | So ... |
| [Good King Wenceslas sung by L.M with Dylan Thomas poem read by Chris] | |
| LM: | Good job Chris, yes it was good job. *claps* |
| C: | *laugh* That was our first take we should say that much. It's a Loreena McKennitt Christmas here on KCRW. Thank-you for bringing the band in and for a marvelous performance. It's been a pleasure having you here. |
| LM: | Oh! It's been a pleasure being here. Thank-you |
| C: | Its Loreena McKennitt in the studio with harp in hand. We really hope the holidays bring you and your loved ones together safely and we wish you a very Merry Christmas. |
| LM: | It's a pleasure... |