A year ago Taj Mahal released a disc called "Senor Blues" which was just recently honored at the Grammy Awards for best contemporary blues record of the year. His follow up is a totally unique piece of music which can best be described as Hawaiian blues. This is the 37th record of Taj’s brilliant career. His recordings this decade have been among his best.

Taj, who has lived in Hawaii for the past dozen years, writes in the liner notes of a lifelong wish "To learn the music of and interface with Hawaiian music and musicians. He speaks of the "tranquil ease" of which these musicians go about their daily life and play music. Indeed, the phrase "tranquil ease" best captures the essence of "Sacred Island. "Listen to the instrumental "Sacred Island (Moku La’a)" and you’ll feel like you’re floating aimlessly on the warm ocean waters.

It’s not just native Hawaiian musicians that are used for this project. The instrumentation and dialect of this recording is also pure Hawaiian. One song called "No Na Mamo" is sung in a native language. Many ancestral languages are still spoken on the islands so I’m not going to pretend that I know what language this song is sung in. However I do know that the title interpretation means "For The Younger Generations." In fact much of the terminology is explained in the liner notes.

The instruments used on "Sacred Island" include an assortment of ukuleles, Hawaiian steel guitar, slack-key guitar, pan pipe, zither, cowbell, etc. Taj plays Dobro and harmonica. There is a full horn section on many of the tracks as well. Of all the songs on the disc the only traditional country blues song is the original "Mailbox Blues." Other songs such as "Betty And Dupree" will remind deadheads of "Dupree’s Diamond Blues." It’s a different song but there sure are similarities. Still another tune, a Frederic Hilbert anthem called "Coconut Man," owes more than a passing nod to Bob Marley. There’s a powerful closing instrumental called "Kanikapila" that will simply blow you away!

-Bill Harriman