Donna De Lory
Donna De Lory, Dave Stringer & Joni Allen
Elixir: Songs of the Radiance Sutras
Donna De Lory, the ultimate Earth Mama with the unparalleled voice and deep dance grooves, has become one of the reigning queens of art+soul » reviews world devotional music. With not one but two great new albums, she’s clearly in the spotlight these days. Before dedicating her life to singing sacred mantras and lyrics of spiritual aspiration, De Lory traveled the globe for 20 years as a backup singer and dancer for Madonna, and appeared in the documentary Truth or Dare. De Lory’s own music combines sparkling pop savvy with a deeply felt spirituality. De Lory’s musical perspective is as wide as the world itself, while her distinctive voice moves effortlessly from a whisper to a scream.
Universal Light: Remixes from The Unchanging + Bonus Tracks gathers some of the hottest remix artists to offer top-tier DJ remixes of club music, chill-out, and high-caliber lounge yoga music. Donna’s exquisite voice shines brilliantly, while remix masters including Carmen Rizzo, David Starfire, Rara Avis, Eastern Sun, Drumspyder, and Willie Lewis transform timeless melodies from De Lory’s 2013 masterpiece The Unchanging. These earthy, deeptrance rhythms take each track to a full-bodied explosion of creative joy and sacred expression, bathing the spirit in bliss while moving the body into the ecstasy of divine dance. Besides the fantastic songs from the album, she adds an inspired, off-the-charts rendition of Krishna Das’s “By Your Grace” that lands exquisitely in the heart. De Lory loves to dance and is always happy to make music to help free peoples bodies, hearts, and souls.
At the same time, her other new release overflows with upbeat ecstatic yoga mantras with Indian bhangra grooves and sultry ballads. Inspired by Lorin Roche’s beloved book The Radiance Sutras, a classic text of yoga philosophy, Elixir unites the talents of leading ecstatic chant artists Dave Stringer and Donna De Lory with contemporary singer/songwriter Joni Allen. Dave Stringer has, for years, been known as the “B. B. King of kirtan,” with a whole catalog of chant recordings and an endless trail of performances. The intertwining of voices, the passion expressed, from tender to robust, showcase some of Donna’s finest vocalizing to date. The musicians—Dave Allen, Krishan, James Harrah, Mac Quayle, Sheela Bringi—are rocking and rolling through the production with a mostly upbeat atmosphere, at times bluesy and always ecstatic. The occasional reciting of these sutras is playfully reverent, while honoring the juicy texts revealed. The rapture of music and movement, the insistence in going toward “what you love” is fervent and inviting. This is a truly unique, inviting, and inspiring project, perfectly realized with an eye to the sky, an ear to the earth, and all hearts to the One. These are songs to be danced with and meditated upon. “Raise your glass, close your eyes, and toast the universe,” with Elixir.
DonnaDeLory.com • SoundsTrue.com
—LLOYD BARDE (LLOYDBARDE.COM)