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Karen Salicath Jamali describes herself not as the architect of her music, but as its vessel. Whether at the piano or in front of a canvas, she follows what she calls an energetic stream — one that has guided her through personal transformation and into a body of work defined by emotional clarity and quiet transcendence.
Sandalphon is traditionally known as the angel who carries human prayers upward to the divine. But your creative process seems to reverse that current — instead of sending something up, you’re receiving music coming down. Do you feel like you’re completing a loop that the music arrives as a kind of answer to prayers already sent? And has that sense of two-way exchange deepened over the years since your recovery?
Sandalphon is the listening angel, sending prayers to the divine source. I don’t see it as something that moves up and down. I feel that I am the music. I am immersed in it, and the music is a part of me. At the same time, I am part of the divine — I am the ground, I am the space from which the music emanates. I am the music lake.
Your single, “Angel Sandalphon (The Angel of New Beginnings),” marks your first release in collaboration with EMPIRE and KOSIGN, powered by Kobalt, one of the world’s largest independent music publishers. Did entering that partnership change anything about how this piece felt to release?
Yes, it felt amazing that my music got recognized to collaborate with these big time publishers and distributors. I am grateful for this and look forward to what this partnership can bring.
With the EP Angel Sandalphon (The Music Lake) specifically, the music arrived in a dream before the New Year. At that moment of waking, did you already know it was a Sandalphon piece, or did that recognition unfold as you brought it to the piano? In other words, does the angelic identity of the music announce itself in the dream, or does it reveal itself through the playing?
I wake from dreams with music already in my head and try to remember it. When I start to play, the music simply flows through me. I am not really aware of where it comes from — I am just inside the music, being guided. Often, I don’t even know what I am playing in that moment. I listen not with my ears but with my soul. My fingers know, my body knows how to play, and the energy moves through me naturally.
Only afterwards, when I hear the recording, I can truly listen and feel the energy and begin to understand where it came from. It is similar when I paint. I don’t always know what I am doing or what I am seeing, I just follow the stream that is moving through me. Sometimes it even takes months before I can look at the paintings again. Then I feel that they are complete, that they are no longer inside me. It is the same with the music.
You’ve developed what the EP materials call “an ongoing musical dialogue” with Archangel Sandalphon across multiple releases. In any long creative relationship, even a spiritual one, there’s evolution. How has that dialogue changed? Is Sandalphon communicating differently to you now than when this series began?
I feel that his energy has become clearer to me. I received these words and this drawing from him:
You describe Sandalphon as a protector of creativity specifically — not just a source of music, but a guardian of the creative life itself. Have you ever felt that protection most strongly not in moments of effortless flow, but in the harder ones — creative blocks, doubt, long silences — as though his presence was less about delivering music and more about keeping the channel open?
I feel that Sandalphon is always there for you. You just need to open yourself to him and be willing to receive. Sometimes the only thing that stands in the way is trust, especially if you want to work with his energy. After my near-death experience, I have found that I trust angels more than humans. I truly believe they are there to guide and help us.
At the same time, you have to work through your own beliefs and what you might call blocks. Without trust, it becomes difficult to connect. In this way, I feel he protects the art of creation for those who are willing to trust and follow the energy. His presence becomes like a shield that protects creativity in art, reminding you to stay open, to trust, and to let the energy lead the way.
When you’re performing or recording these pieces, do you feel you’ve entered that space yourself, or are you more like its architect, building the door for others to walk through?
I feel that I enter another world, where I am being guided. I sense the light, I feel the presence of angels, and I feel a deep connection to the center of being. In those moments, I experience myself simply as a vessel. I am not the architect or the builder — it feels as though everything is already created, already structured, already there to be received. I am just sharing what comes through me, so that others can feel it and receive it as well.
The piano is one of the instruments that can sustain a full harmonic world entirely on its own — melody, harmony, rhythm, space, all at once. When you receive a composition in a dream or at dawn, do you hear it already as piano, or does the piano become the vessel you pour it into afterward? In other words, is the instrument chosen, or is it simply where the music lives?
In my dreams, I hear the music, the melodies, the feelings, the expressions, all coming together as one. When I go to the piano, often straight from my bed and still half asleep, my fingers simply know where to play. I have never questioned whether it should be the piano; it has always just been the piano. If it were meant to be another instrument, I am sure they would have placed it in my hands instead :).
That said, I do recognize when other instruments appear in my dreams, like the violin, cello, choir, or flute. So perhaps I dream through the piano. And in a way, it feels like my Steinway piano found me, rather than the other way around.
Your EP Angel Trio just received two Silver Awards from the Global Music Awards for Best Instrumental Piano and Best Composer, and Wings of Gabrielhas earned widespread critical praise and awards and it just received 3 nominations from the The European International Music Awards (EIMA) When the industry responds with awards and categories, does that feel like it truly captures the value of what you’ve created?
I am always very grateful when my music is recognized, including by the music industry. It means a lot to know that others can truly feel, hear, and acknowledge what I am creating. Recognition also helps bring more attention to the music, allowing it to reach and connect with more people. Thank you.
