McKennitt Updates Medieval Balladry

Drawing hoots and shouts of “Ow!” at a concert grounded in medieval balladry and performed on harp, hurdy-gurdy and oud seems about as likely as a song based on ancient Middle Eastern and Celtic modes becoming a big pop radio hit.

But Loreena McKennitt, who achieved the latter distinction recently with a techno remix of her song “The Mummer’s Dance,” managed the former feat Wednesday at the Universal Amphitheatre.

And the Canadian musician did it without even playing the hit version of that song, supporting her remarkably full alto with rich, mostly acoustic textures of her own harp, accordion and piano and the multi-era, multicultural array of instruments bowed, plucked and struck by nine backing musicians.

The truth is, McKennitt’s ability to draw this enthusiastic audience of more than 5,000 fans had been building for years before the current hit.

And as her fan base has grown over her 13-year career, so have her musical ambition and scope. On a stage set evoking a Moorish palace, McKennitt showcased her recent sixth album, “The Book of Secrets,” a vivid celebration of sounds and images of medieval Spain’s Christian-Arab-Jew melting pot and of the wanderings of her Celtic ancestors.

Even if some of the early material she played Wednesday tended toward mannered fairies-and-rainbows territory, it never lacked beauty or depth. And how many hit artists of 1998 could also have been hits in 1498?