Angel Gabriel’s Light by Karen Salicath

I Don’t Play Piano. It Plays Me.

I didn’t grow up dreaming of writing about angelic piano music. But here I am, sipping lukewarm tea at an absurd hour, thinking about a woman who met the divine on a hospital bed and woke up three years later with music pouring out of her like breath. Karen Salicath Jamali didn’t plan this. One day, she fell. And when she stood back up – eventually, slowly, painfully – music stood up with her.

Her latest release, Angel Gabriel’s Light, is not that track you’ll find pounding through club speakers or making a scene on a Friday night. No, it’s what you play after the madness fades, after the lights go out, and you’re left alone with your questions. It’s what you hear when you’re still enough to actually listen. Not to the world, but to whatever might be left of yourself after life tries to break you.

Karen recorded the entire piece in one take. One sitting, one dream passed through fingers. And yet here we are, talking about a Steinway piano and a #1 spot on Hypeddit’s Top 100 Classical Chart. It came the way all true things do – quiet, steady, real. Just one artist, one grand piano, and a message that arrived quietly but insistently.

Archangels Don’t Text. But They Might Send Music.

I’ve never dreamt of an angel. Closest thing was probably a deadline extension. But Karen? She dreamt of Archangel Gabriel. Not in metaphor, but in color. Blue. Pure. A shade soaked in the kind of hope you wouldn’t find on sale.

Gabriel – the divine messenger in almost every faith that gives a damn – came through with a melody. A message, sure. But this one drifted in with music instead of noise. And Karen, still deeply tied to her brushes and paints as a visual artist, captured that moment not just in music but in the single’s artwork too. It’s her painting on the cover. Her hands across mediums. Her way of saying, “I was there, and this is what I saw.”

The piece feels like prayer – but without the whispering. It’s not sentimental either. There’s pain in it, gentled by time. And for someone who never trained as a pianist, Karen plays like someone who trusts what she hears inside. Because… yes. I stopped writing for a second and just listened. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I notice.

Where Awards Meet Stillness

Now, if you’re looking for some external validation – if the spiritual stuff gets a little too floaty for your taste – don’t worry. Karen’s been recognized. Recently nominated at the World Entertainment Awards for Best Album (Dreams of Angels) and Best Single (White Angel), she also holds a Silver Global Music Award for A Moment of Peace, and she’s a national finalist for the 2025 Charles Ives Award in Chamber Music with her album Angel Hanael’s Song.

And then there’s Maria Triana – yes, the same Maria who’s worked with Aretha, Bob Dylan, Sting, and basically every name that turns awards into legends. She mastered Angel Gabriel’s Light. Which means the track is not just spiritually profound – it also sounds as rich and clean as a cathedral on Sunday.

Karen Salicath Jamali is a member of the Recording Academy. She’s played Carnegie Hall. Eight times. Which is eight more than me, and probably you. Still, none of that matters when you hear Angel Gabriel’s Light. What matters is the breath – the one hidden in your chest. The quiet you forgot you needed, the small flicker inside you that is still trying to shine. Against all odds.

I won’t tell you what to feel. Just go listen. Maybe it’ll meet you where you are. It’s all here: kjamalimusic.com, Spotify, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook.