bn.com: This is your first widely released live recording. What is the biggest difference between playing live and doing a recording in the studio?

Loreena McKennitt: First of all, when you're live, you don't have the safety net of the studio. You're not able to go back and correct mistakes, or improve the performance. There's also the vulnerability you experience because you know that you could make a mistake or you could forget your lines. The adrenaline is just running a little higher, and I think that makes a different performance.

At the same time, every night we're trying to find something new in the music, so it doesn't become sort of a factory like rollout. When you have nine people onstage, as we did, then there are going to be new things that happen every night, and that helps to shuffle the deck. You can get yourself in trouble if road weariness sets in and you let yourself go wandering off -- as I did in the Paris show. I skipped a verse and went into the chorus while the rest of the band went into the verse!

bn.com: How did you handle that?

LM: There was a total train wreck. I had to stop in the middle of the song -- we were doing "All Souls' Night" as an encore -- and I just found it so hilarious I almost fell off the piano bench laughing. It was just so me to do something like that. The audience seemed to get a good chuckle out of it, too.

bn.com: You must have learned a lot about relating to an audience when you were playing your music on the streets.

LM: Yes, there were many escapades that occurred while I was busking. You have to brace your psyche for it, because some people will stop to listen, some will go on, and some will thumb their nose at you!

bn.com: What was it like when you first played outside like that?

LM: I had borrowed the money my family had earmarked for my education in order to make my first recording. But I really had no means to support myself, so busking was a way of chipping away at the bills. I suppose it was also the romantic idea of playing in the streets -- which is more a European custom than a North American one.

I was very, very self conscious at first. Although I didn't really know that many people in Toronto, I do remember this crowd gathering one day and a friend of mine I hadn't seen in many years came up after I'd finished my set. Tears were pouring down her face and she said, "Oh, Loreena, has it come to this?" But soon I was making very good money and I sold a lot of cassettes that way.

bn.com: Did you enjoy it?

LM: I did! It didn't take long before I really got into the swing of it. It was a very social thing and I really enjoyed it. I played just for fun outside of Covent Garden in London, and when I was working at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin I took my harp out to Grafton Street.

bn.com: You are best known as a composer of original music. How does the writing process work for you?

LM: It usually begins by looking at the threads of research from the previous record that remained undeveloped. I have what's like a little treasure chest -- a box full of clippings and notes. When I look for ideas and inspiration for the next recording, I rummage through that box and start following leads. The result is a very personal document of my reading, traveling, and research.

bn.com: Your latest recording was made live. Do you have more tours scheduled?

LM: There are no tours planned at present. About a year and a half ago I started to truncate the touring, because my relationship with my partner, Ron, was my priority. But a year ago in July, Ron, his brother, and a work colleague perished in a boating accident. Their families and I set up the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Safety. From the donations that have already come in, we've been able to purchase diving rescue safety equipment, and I've been in close contact with the Canadian Coast Guard to learn about water safety education and how we can help. In Canada, in the United States, and probably in other parts of the world, people are much more vulnerable to water accidents than they realize. We've earmarked ten dollars from every recording of this album that's sold to go to the Cook-Rees Fund.

I still feel it's important to take time for myself, and I expect I'll be involved in seeing that the fund is properly managed. It's a fitting memorial for these three guys, who were really great. In these situations, there really are no consolations. All one can do is look for opportunities to make things better for someone else.

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