An Ancient Muse

An Ancient Muse is the seventh full-length studio album of the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist, Loreena McKennitt. It was released on November 20, 2006 internationally, and November 21, 2006 in the United States and Canada.[3] It was her first studio album after a 9-year gap. It has sold over a half a million copies worldwide since its release. [4]

An Ancient Muse
Studio album by
Loreena McKennitt
ReleasedNovember 20, 2006
RecordedJune 2005-August 2006
GenreWorld music, folk
Length54:19
LabelQuinlan Road, MRA
Loreena McKennitt chronology
Live in Paris and Toronto
(1999)		 An Ancient Muse
(2006)		 Nights from the Alhambra
(2007)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com[1]
Allmusic[2]

Overview

Work on An Ancient Muse started in 2005. According to reports on McKennitt's Quinlan Road website, most of the inspiration for the tracks of the album came from the music of Greece, Turkey, the Middle East and the Far East. Most of the tracks, with the exception of three revealed at the mid-September concerts in the Alhambra of Granada in Spain, were completely unknown until the release.

An Ancient Muse debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 at number 83, with about 19,000 copies sold in its first week.[5] This was also its peak position on the chart.[6]

Track listing

All music and lyrics written by Loreena McKennitt except as noted.

  1. "Incantation" – 2:35
  2. "The Gates of Istanbul" – 6:59
  3. "Caravanserai" – 7:36
  4. "The English Ladye and the Knight" (lyrics by Sir Walter Scott)[7] – 6:49
  5. "Kecharitomene"[8] – 6:34
  6. "Penelope's Song" – 4:21
  7. "Sacred Shabbat" (Kâtibim arr. Loreena McKennitt)[9] – 3:59
  8. "Beneath a Phrygian Sky" – 9:32
  9. "Never-ending Road (Amhrán Duit)" – 5:54
Bonus tracks
  1. "Raglan Road" – 6:12 – an unreleased track on a bonus disc exclusive to Barnes & Noble
  2. "Beneath a Phrygian Sky (Gordian version)" – 9:25 – exclusive iTunes Store remix

Personnel

Chart performance
Chart (2006) Peak
position
Germany Albums Chart 15[10]
Spain Albums Chart 26[11]
Belgium Albums Chart 46[12]
France Albums Chart 41[13]
Swiss Albums Chart 45[14]
Austria Albums Chart 59[15]
Dutch Albums Chart 11[16]
Danish Albums Chart 25[17]
Canadian Albums Chart 9[18]
US Billboard 200 83[18]

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[19] Platinum 100,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

gollark: I've had pretty good maths teachers consistently, at least.
gollark: ħæħ indeed.
gollark: Although that seems to partly just be people being annoying and saying "no, I obviously should have gotten X grade, you should just have used my definitely accurate teacher-predicted grade".
gollark: GCSE results are in five days, and people are complaining a lot about how they messed up A-levels.
gollark: I'm not really sure about what do after A-level, and am also vaguely unsure about my subject choices for that, but *oh well* (I technically can still change them, though).

References
  1. About.com review
  2. Allmusic review
  3. Montague, Joe (January 22, 2007). "Loreena McKennitt: An Ancient Muse". PopMatters. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  4. "McKennitt To Tour U.S. And Canada". Billboard. 13 February 2007. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  5. Katie Hasty, "Jay-Z Reclaims His 'Kingdom' With No. 1 Debut", Billboard.com, November 29, 2006.
  6. Artist chart history for Loreena McKennitt (albums), Billboard.com.
  7. based on Sir Walter Scott's It was an English Ladye Bright ballad from The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)
  8. κεχαριτωμένη, Gabriel's greeting to Mary in Luke 1:28, translated gratia plena "full of grace"
  9. http://boards.quinlanroad.com/topic/sacred-shabbat-1
  10. "Musicline.de - Chartverfolgung - McKennitt,Loreena - An ancient muse". www.musicline.de. Archived from the original on 2012-10-02. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  11. "spanishcharts.com - Loreena McKennitt - An Ancient Muse". spanishcharts.com. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  12. "ultratop.be - Loreena McKennitt - An Ancient Muse". www.ultratop.be. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  13. "lescharts.com - Loreena McKennitt - An Ancient Muse". lescharts.com. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  14. "Loreena McKennitt - An Ancient Muse - hitparade.ch". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  15. "Loreena McKennitt - An Ancient Muse - austriancharts.at". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  16. "dutchcharts.nl - Loreena McKennitt - An Ancient Muse". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  17. "danishcharts.dk - Loreena McKennitt - An Ancient Muse". danishcharts.dk. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  18. "An Ancient Muse - Loreena McKennitt". www.billboard.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  19. "Canadian album certifications – Loreena McKennitt – An Ancient muse". Music Canada. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
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