Did your attraction for things Celtic start with the history and then move into the music?

Loreena McKinnett: Yes, I was never that interested in history in high school. It was only when I got involved in folk music that I began to understand the connection between the political and economic circumstances of that time. I'm not an authority, but I have become more familiar with lesser known corners of Celtic history, which may make me appear to know more than I do. I am teaching myself and learning along the way. I have been interested in Celtic music since the early 80's, and have been doing my own recordings since 1985.

When you succumbed to Celtic music, did you go to Ireland to further understand it's roots?

Loreena McKinnett: Yes, I wanted to go to the place where it all sprang from, and to witness how the music occurred. The music is one thing, but the physical and sociological context is also of keen interest to me. The fact that I would encounter it in a pub or people's homes very spontaneously and naturally was fascinating to me.

You have said that Celtic music follows the contours of the land.

Would you explain what you mean by this?

Loreena McKinnett: It's funny, how as a creative person, you are constantly trying to shuffle the deck or provoke yourself and your psyche in a non-linear kind of way. I remember one visit in Ireland. I had some traditional music on the tape machine in the car. I was driving along and seeing all of these wonderful rambling stone fences. I thought to myself that how those stone walls rambled, up and down, and jigged and jagged, was very like the Irish jigs and reels on the tape. I'm not a visual person, but to my crude eye there feels like a kind of lyricism to the physicality of the Irish countryside.

Do you feel there is an aspect of Celtic music that speaks to the spirit and soul?

Loreena McKinnett: Yes, although there are a lot of people who perhaps inject more into it than might be there. It's not for me to say. Particularly as far as the Irish music, because the Romans never made it as far as Ireland, and Ireland being this island in the furthest Western regions, never went through as many cultural mutations as the rest of Europe. So in Ireland, you will still find remnants of these older threads, which you can actually tie into places like India or to the former Eastern block countries. When you get into some of the older music, a lot of it was for religious and spiritual needs and purposes, so it's not surprising that the ancients understood the psychological and emotional intent of sound and music more than we do now, for example Gregorian chant. It's very calming and soothing and a kind of musical architecture. People were creating music then, that was, in fact, impacted by architecture. The music was a blend of oral and physical ascetics.

As you travel the globe, do you find similarities between musical genres, for example, the Celtic and Sufi?

Loreena McKinnett: In some ways, but I'm just getting into this area. Because there is so little documentation of the early Celtic cultures, I think it's almost impossible for contemporary minds to imagine what people were experiencing then. In so far as to some of the research I have done, the arrow seems to point to religious and spiritual interpretations being influenced by other peoples.

You have said that the end of your new album, "book of secrets" suggests the beginning point for your next album, as though they are stepping stones along your journey. Would you say, yours is a personal as well as a musical journey?

Loreena McKinnett: Musical is obviously the vehicle I have chosen. I have been blessed with some kind of gift or talent, and I am interested in musical archeology as well as cultural literature.

When you go into a recording studio, for example with your latest album, "book of secrets," do you have your ideas already worked out?

Loreena McKinnett: What I go into the studio with is the melody. I have an understanding of what the personality or characteristics I want the piece to have, and therefore the instruments likely to be involved in creating that personality. Then I bring the musicians in and we start playing around with it. At a certain point, I say, start rolling, but I certainly realize there are many interpretations of musical pieces, and even a single artist can come up with different interpretations. That is why I consider this recording more of a snapshot of where I'm at.

Have you encountered a problem working with classical musicians because often they only are able to play what is on the page?

Loreena McKinnett: Yes, this is probably why the classical world and I had to part. Clearly my instincts and inclinations are strong enough to almost be in conflict with the psychological tact that is involved in classical training. I worry that in the path of classical training, musicians are not encouraged to use their instincts and ears. It's like getting into your car and needing to read the map every time you drive from Stratford to Toronto, as opposed to once you have read it, you can do it without the map, or you are creative enough to say, well Toronto is to the East and I can find a different way of getting there. It's a fascinating example of the different ways the psyche and inner workings function.

I love that metaphor, of knowing the basic direction and finding a new way there.

Loreena McKinnett: The inner compass that you are using to go there, is not entirely a cerebral one. It's intuitive, sometimes instinctive, or emotional---the english language is too restrictive and not sophisticated enough to actually articulate this. There isn't a word or group of words to describe what happens, particularly when people play by ear. I actually had to confront this today. I had been invited to perform with an orchestra, and people were trying to do an arrangement. I had to explain that myself and my own band members, although we are trained and can read music very well, don't look at the written score when we function as musicians. It's a very interesting example of how people develop in certain areas using their instincts and intuitions, while others go by the book.