Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: olive

  • Shadows of Olive Trees

    Shadows of Olive Trees

    It is important for a society to be able to reflect on past issues that affect our social structure today. Shadows of Olive Trees brings to light the customs and traditions that were prevalent in Australia during the 70’s. Migrant families brought their village values and expectations to the new country.  

    For many young Greek women, life was filled with compromise and confusion. Raised with love and total commitment, they began to experience the “other way of living.”  These women then began to challenge basic structures of family life.

    In Shadows of Olive Trees, we follow the life of Tessa. She is a very smart young lady who knows where her strengths lie and which directions she wants to take in the future. Her father wants her to become a Librarian, but Tessa wants to study literature, continue to study and write poetry.

    She is approaching the marriageable age and again her father has chosen two men as suitable husbands. From being the adoring and dutiful daughter, Tessa becomes angry and saddened by her mother’s submissiveness and her father’s domination.

    Shadows of the Olive Trees is set in Sydney, in the 1970’s, but it could be replicated in any part of Australia. Today, when some Greek women look back at their youth, they are reminded of how loved and protected they were, but also how confined and limited they were socially. Today, many things have changed. Those same women had to fight so much harder for their freedom but ensured that things would be easier for their children.

    This is just one rung on the ladder of women’s struggle for equality, but an important one to acknowledge.

  • Winds Of Change

    Winds Of Change

    Winds of Change comes into the ‘Play it again, Sam’ category as the music has a certain something which wraps around the emotions, offering solace, peace and relaxation while traveling across many subtle and elegant planes created in a diverse palate of original music.

    When Denise Young released Winds of Change the world was a very different place, all be that only seven months ago, but as this very different year is unfolding the title has become synonymous with massive change; the beautiful music contained within the album is, as it turns out, the perfect panacea to step out of the madness and into a space full of peace and relaxation, if only for a short period of time.

    A range of elegant pieces commences with the charming Under the Olive Tree, a languorous piece reminiscent of somnolent afternoons spent enjoying the world as can only be discovered under the sheltering shade of an Olive Tree.

    As each of the pieces unfolds, a rich tapestry is discovered created from a mixture of styles, vocals and the occasional melding of orchestral elements throughout, which showcases an artist absolutely involved with her music.

    Minimalist pieces as Ballerina, capture longing, passion and devotion in a simple perfection, to Reflections, a slow, carefully moderated piece perhaps used to look forward, by looking back; beautiful, delicate and once again full of grace and charm.

    The signature piece Winds of Change is an eloquent piece, aptly offering in a year which has to date turned out to be full of changes. Interestingly Teardrop Symphony follows on and should you be looking for a rather mystical synergy, in the broadest sense, of music and titles this sedate and slightly melancholic piece is perfect.

    Dandelions is a light-hearted and captivating, perhaps created in homage to these humble, little ‘weeds’ that grow alongside the roadways as well as on the paddocks and fields, waving their yellow and black flowers cheerfully in the breeze, brightening the landscape for just a little space in time. A humble little plant offering much pleasure and cheerful joy.

    Winds of Change is a most enjoyable album which simply requires listening to over and over again, discovering something fresh each time. ‘Play it again. Sam’’, definitely!