Review of T. The new album by Delia Olam.

This has been a very difficult album for me to review. I'm not what you would call an optimist, so exposing myself to Delia's beautiful positivity required that I put my own world view aside for long enough to really let her message sink in. When Delia sings the words, let friendship ancient hatreds reconcile, she doesn't just mean this in a poetic, we should all get along, sort of way. She really believes it. She lives it. These lyrical adaptations of the poetry of Tahirih, (and Bahai) are more than a religious translation, for that would be only the faded repetition of old doctrines. This album is the continuation of a spirit of freedom and love that never really died. Like all martyr's, Tahirih's death made her more powerful than her enemies could ever imagine, and Delia's new stunningly creative album makes Tahirih's poetry and message all the more engaging, transformed by the musical innovations and exciting song writing skills of this woman of the 21^st Century.

Her voice makes my skin tingle, her rhythms make my feet skip and while listening to the album one evening as I did the dishes, I felt that I was hearing a whole new kind of jazz: she tickles and slaps grooves on her cello like a beat poet, she sings in a way that is unpredictable, yet comforting. This album is a great leap forward from her 2012 debut (Hello, I Like You), a statement which in no way diminishes her early achievements, but rather I feel that the vast depth of this wonderful musician's imagination is beginning to be revealed. She simultaneously adheres to folk traditions and breaks from them. She makes familiar instruments sound new and her voice (in my opinion), which has always been the greatest feature of her music, has matured and grown. She has spent years developing and training her voice and instrumental skills and enriching what was already a magnificent talent into something which now grants her a unique immortality among singers.

But I don't want my review to be a call and response, an opinion piece on someone else's life's work. I only wish that you should listen for yourself. These melodies and harmonies are the modern meeting point of a great and mature poetic philosophy of love and Delia has applied herself willingly, she has devoted her life to this message. She doesn't just sing this philosophy, she lives it, and now that I have listened to this album over and over again, that beauty has taken root in my own deeply cynical mind and as this year's summer heat makes the country burn, as our politicians dither on the doorstep of our mutual destruction, these songs of Delia's sprout like flowers and make me consider that the world has a future, and that we who listen, we who love, might have a place in it too.

Point by point, note by note, I swoon in the luxurious forgiveness and hope of this album.

I let the wind untie my tangled mind.

If I seem drunk, don't ask me why, just listen to Delia's beautiful voice.

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I should also make note of the other musicians who played on this album, for their contributions are neither subdued, nor insignificant. The supporting roles in any music production are so much more than scenery, and on this album, the percussion, drumming, bass, mandolin, fiddle and cello are at times so vital to the life of the songs that I cannot imagine their absence. It would be unjust of me to fail to mention by name the cast of friends who contributed to this album.

Sound engineer: Andrew Clermont
Audio mastering: Adam Dempsey
Bass and percussion: Tim Bennett
Percussion: Craig Lauritsen
Cello: Rachel Johnston
Fiddle and mandolin: Andrew Clermont

To see their names in black and white does not quite highlight the importance of their involvement, but it is essential to understand that each of these individuals spent countless hours working with Delia, believing in her work, meeting her eye to eye and ear to ear in the studio to make the album what it is. I am personally grateful to them, for as a keen listener and critical judge of musical efforts, I can only find praise in my heart for their work at every level.

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If you haven't seen Delia perform live, please seek her out. If that is not possible, please watch some of her videos, and if you value the effort she had made to give this album to the world, please purchase it.

https://www.youtube.com/user/deliaolammusic

https://9starmedia.com/delia-olam-t     (The new album is here.)

https://deliaolam.bandcamp.com/      (The 2012 album is here)

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Review written by Morgan Taubert.

Morgan is an Adelaide Hills writer, musician and teacher of Middle Eastern drumming. His other work can be found below.

Www.zebulonstoryteller.bandcamp.com – Morgan's solo music

www.letterstocicero.blogspot.com – Writing letters to the authors of the ancient world

www.praiseliving.blogspot.com – reviews of living artists and their work

www.drumarabesque.blogspot.com – a middle eastern drum study blog

www.indivisiblefrommagic.blogspot.com – blurring the lines between fact and fiction

www.invisibleenclave.blogspot.com – the story of recording the Zebulon solo album