Tash Sultana's recording of Notion at the Tiny Desk Concert series is a supernatural occurrence

How to describe this recording of Tash Sultana's Notion at the NPR tiny desk concert? It has to be labeled as supernatural as it's a piece of music that, in my opinion, just doesn't belong to this World. To watch Tash Sultana jumping barefoot between several looping pedals is just nuts. Her voice also reaches an intensity that I cannot find in any other recording of this song. Which makes my mind wander about the unique mixture of circumstances that made this recording a reality. To listen Tash Sultana signing hallelujah with her jimmy-Hendrix-kind-of arrangements in the solo. Watch from 07:30 (or just from the beginning, you will not regret it). 

Have you ever listened to a song so good that kinda makes you feel for a few seconds that everything in life is fixed and put back together? Like it doesn't matter the harsh drive because it was the path that brought you to this specific moment and listening to the song. That is how I feel about Tash Sultana's Notion. 

Who is Tash Sultana? Australian indie musician based in Melbourne, Australia. Apollegical, talented, and powerful. Every performance is a blazing experience. Her vocals are combined with multiple instruments that she plays with a loop machine. Her lyrics are also fiery, and her style. Oh, folks, it's a unique combination of psychedelic rock, blues, reggae, and R&B. Nothing alike, and overall, her energy hits hard in live presentations. As I write this article, Tash Sultana has sold-out dates for concerts around the world, including Minneapolis, MN, at St. Paul Palace theater, where she will be performing in June (already got my ticket). 

So, what made it possible to listen to this recording? 

Tash Sultana was given a guitar at the age of three years, which originally belonged to her grandfather. Some magic happened between this event and her raising to fame; magic matched with thousands of thousands of hours practicing a wide (and very wild) number of instruments. Actually, they have this family tradition of visiting a music store and picking any new instrument that catches her attention. 

Her father supported her career from a young age (I mean, relentlessly by even taking her to any possible open-air microphone night in Victoria, Australia), but it was not until she listened to Lana del Rey, that she pursued her career professionally. At the time she was performing six times a week. 

Open-air microphone performance to street busking on the streets of Melbourne. It was on her 18th birthday that she adds the loop pedal, a signature of her performances. She knew that she had to get the public attention to stop surviving on tips and sales of $5 a disc. A side hustle serving in some shitty dinner somewhere in Melbourne was never an option. 

It's also worth mentioning, for the purpose of this entry, about Tash's uphill battle to get out of drugs. Another thing that could have gone wrong in her career. Nowadays, Tash hates any mention of this episode because it does not represent what she is today, and I agree with that. 

In May 2016, Tash Sultana records her new song Jungle with her iPhone 4, which in just five days reached one million views on her Youtube channel. She was then booked by different labels and became an international phenomenon (but yet not part of the mainstream music, a deliberated decision by the record label and Tash Sultana). 

Think of what it might have been different? She could have been given a different instrument and lost interest (or never listened Lana del Rey). Her family could have preferred an ordinary career path for her or she may have never picked a loop pedal on her 18th birthday. Perhaps she could have settled down with a stupid nine to five-day shift somewhere in Melbourne or gotten married to raise some family at her spouse's goat farm. Life is about paths. 

So many things could have gone different, which makes me think about the endlessness pond of choices and possibilities that life has to offer. This chaotic and indomitable source of options makes me happy, but also sad sometimes (cannot really explain why, but perhaps it's for the things that could have been, but I'm even left in the dark of the actual existence of those alternative realities). When the music stops, you open your eyes and look around. Same place, but different feelings. 

I wonder what also made Tash Sultana change the way how she played Notion that day. It has tortured me in some sort of way because I have not been able to find a similar recording. The official release in her album that appears on Spotify is great but different. I'm left with no other option than to replay the NPR recording one time after another. It's frustrating but beautiful.