Tour Collaborators: Donna De Lory and her New CD
Today we start looking at the cast of Madonna‘s re-invention tour. The first artist under our spotlight is long time collaborator Donna De Lory, who is working full time on rehearsals for Madonna’s tour but at the same time has a new ep out. Here’s a press release for her latest work sung in Sanskrit, which is available to buy from Amazon.com.
Donna De Lory has been around the big top of American pop music for most of her life. Raised in a musical home, her grandfather played cello and upright bass for the Warner Bros. Studios orchestra, her mother was a singer and dancer, and her father, keyboardist and producer Al De Lory, made records with Phil Spector’s Wrecking Crew and even played on the Beach Boys’ landmark Pet Sounds album.
De Lory’s vocal on a demo tape led to her landing her breakthrough gig as one of Madonna‘s two singing/dancing stage companions. She performed on all of Madonna’s biggest tours, from “Who’s That Girl?” to “The Drowned World Tour,” and took part in the bold and brassy “Truth or Dare” documentary. During that time, she released a self-titled debut album on MCA Records that produced a No.1 single in Japan and a top 10 dance hit in the U.S. The touring for that CD also introduced Donna to a world of music she hadn’t heard before: “At one point, I went to places like Brazil and Israel to promote my solo record,” explains De Lory. “And I was getting influenced by a lot of world music. I started studying Asian dance prior to making my first video and that put me on a whole new path musically as well.”
These performances, coupled with Donna‘s burgeoning yoga practice and immersion in that lifestyle, began to open her ears even further. She’d play Indian records and get transfixed by the sound of a tabla. She’d hear chanting floating out of a Hare Krishna temple in Laguna Beach. She’d discover a harmonium lying around at a party, and she’d pick it up, and she’d find herself soothed by the sound of it. Soon Donna found herself adding Sanskrit chants to her repertoire, which meant that she had to adjust her notions of what qualifies as a performance. She laughs as she remembers thinking: “All we’re going to say is ‘jaya jaya shiva shambo’ for 45 minutes? Wow. This is really repetitive. But then I got into it, and I saw all these other people getting into it. You just get lost in the music.”
Donna’s new album in Sanskrit, “The Lover And The Beloved”
That sense of freedom and purpose led Donna directly to her latest venture, a Sanskrit chant CD for the record label, Ajna Music. And while a collection of ancient Indian mantras set to modern beats may seem like a departure, for Donna De Lory, this seamless blend of east and west, devotion and pop, is just the next bold step in her continuing musical evolution.
These Sanskrit mantras bubble with a groove and atmosphere that takes tradition to heaven and back. Donna’s voice resonates with ether and earth, beauty that asks you to join in, become one with the sound of deep celebration.
For further information please visit:
www.donnadelory.com
ajnamusic.com