The Mask and Mirror [Enhanced]

Personnel includes: Loreena McKennitt (vocals, harp, accordion, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, organ pipes, dumbeg); Brian Hughes (guitar, oud, balalaika, electric sitar); Donal Lunny (bouzouki, bodhran), Abraham Tawfik (oud, nai); Hugh Marsh (fiddle); Anne Bourne (cello, background vocals); Ofra Harnoy (cello); Patrick Hutchinson (Uillean pipes); Nigel Eaton (hurdy gurdy); George Koller (bass, tamboura, cello, esraj); Al Cross (drums); Rick Lazar (percussion, dumbek, udu drum); Ravi Naimpally (tabla); The Victoria Scholars Choir (background vocals).
Although grounded in Celtic mysticism, Loreena McKennitt ranges beyond her roots in THE MASK AND THE MIRROR, searching for the confluence of Christian, Jewish, and Islamic cultures. As its title suggests, "The Mystic's Dream," which opens the album, is a highly visual piece that moves from Gregorian monasteries to Moorish markets, employing tabla, oud, and Uilleann pipes.
In "The Dark Night of the Soul," McKennitt sets her voice to a 15th century love poem by St. John of the Cross. The verses were addressed by the mystic to God but could just as well be from one lover to another.