Dala / Hugh's Room / Toronto, Canada

When Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walther, collectively known as Dala are on stage performing their original acoustic pop songs and harmonizing beautifully and chatting with their audience in between tunes, it is sometimes difficult to separate the fiction from the fact, as both of them possess quirky senses of humor and they transition so easily between their songs and storytelling.  The two friends who met several years ago, while they were in high school, were performing at Hugh’s Room in Toronto, kind of a homecoming for Dala who when they are not touring, return here to live.  Their December 17^th and 18^th performances were their last for 2010, a breakthrough year for the long dark haired Carabine who on this evening was dressed in a blue and white long sleeved tee-shirt and blue jeans and for Walther who was dressed in a black dress with polka dots and whose long blond hair cascaded well beyond her shoulders. The year 2010 saw Dala perform in more than 200 concerts worldwide, including a tour with Arlo Guthrie and they signed a record deal with a Nashville label, which will be releasing their album Everyone Is Someone, in January, an album that was first released in Canada in late 2009.

For their sold out performances at Hugh’s Room, the duo showcased their beautiful and original ballads, as well as spotting in some well chosen cover tunes, such as, “Dream A Little Dream Of Me,” more associated with the 1968 Mamas & Papas single than with its originator Ozzie Nelson (Ricky Nelson’s father) and his orchestra. Each of the ladies took turns soloing and for “Dream A Little Dream Of Me,” it was Amanda Walther’s turn and she invited her father Dominic up on stage to play the acoustic guitar with her, a touching moment and as she explained this was the very first song they had performed together, many years earlier. Mama Cass Elliot fans are likely cringe when reading this, and this writer was a huge fan of the Mamas & the Papas, however, it is our opinion that Walther sings it better.

For her part, Sheila Carabine’s solo, took place with her seated at the piano and she began by telling the story behind her beautiful ballad “Peggy,” written in a cottage in Honey Harbor on the Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada.  The cottage, owned by a friend of Carabine and Walther, had numerous books, which she started leafing through and she noted that the name inscribed was Peggy, the mother of their friend. Throughout the books Peggy had written her thoughts in the margins and when Carabine came across a recipe in a cook book, Peggy had written her thoughts there too. Noticing a pair of Walther’s running shoes on the floor and how lonely they looked, became the first inspiration for the song, “I saw your shoes empty by the door / I never thought of them like that before,” and then the ballad thoughtfully recalls, “I saw your mother’s name in a book of poetry / And I saw your mother’s hand in a favorite recipe…She will never know me / Oh Peggy the things we leave behind.”  A journalist’s recounting of this song and story cannot possibly do justice to the excellence of Sheila Carabine’s songwriting and the manner in which she puts the listener into the middle of the story.

“Horses,” a song inspired by a guy whom they said faces tremendous challenges and while listening to the words, one supposes they are devastating physical challenges, is a song that will break your heart and it does so by simply telling the story, without embellishment.  The two teenage girls, Jessie and Lindsay who sat near me cited it as their favorite song and one that united them as friends. Dala’s music is not hard rock that slams you up against the wall, nor does it have a dance groove, it does however pack a huge emotional punch, because Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walther’s vocals are hauntingly beautiful and their harmonies unblemished. They tell real stories drawn from their life’s experiences and they tell them in a way that draws their audience into the music. Whether it is a more somber song such as “Horses,” or a humorous ditty based on a three dollar harlequin romance novel picked up at a truck stop, because there was nothing else to read, the duo are so comfortable in their own skins that they carry that to the stage with them and they are vulnerable before their audience.

The duo’s humor shone through again, while sharing short ditties such as their stalker song, based on some disturbing calls Walther once received, “Just because we’re friends on Facebook, doesn’t mean we are friends in real life,” and their song “Lennon and McCartney,” recently written.

The evening ended with the last song of the second set, a cover of “What A Wonderful World,” and then the encore, Paul Anka’s “Goodnight My Love.”

Dala, remember that name and the names of Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walther, you are going to be hearing a lot more from this fabulously talented duo in 2011.

Riveting Riffs Magazine would like to express our gratitude to the management of Hugh's Room for making it possible for us to review this concert.