The Songs of Zamran: Son of Olias

In a Facebook post on 6 March 2009, Anderson stated that he had been working on the project over the past ten years i.e. since 1999[1] while in a 2001 interview to The Music Street Journal, he revealed he had begun working on a sequel to his debut album Olias of Sunhillow as early as 2000,[2] stating: « I'm working on my own project at the moment. I've been working on this piece of music for a year now, and it will be ready next summer, I believe. I'm very excited about it. I did an album years and years ago called Olias of Sunhillow where I performed all the music, and I'm getting back to that place again. »[2] This predicted possible release ultimately didn't occur.

In 2004, Jon Anderson called for collaborators to contact him via his website. He described the project as a "return to Olias". In 2006, around the time his debut studio album Olias of Sunhillow was re-released, Anderson confirmed that he was making a sequel he called The Songs of Zamran: Son of Olias. In late 2008, he announced on his Myspace page that he was hoping to finish the sequel soon.

In a 2009 interview to The Bolton News, Anderson confirmed working on the Zamran project and even predicted a release year (that ultimately didn't occur) for some of the new material: "I've been working on the story of Zamran, the son of Olias for three years and it's already three albums long. The potential is enormous and some of it may come out next year."[3]

In an interview on 1 June 2011, in parallel to his work on Zamran, Anderson revealed he was preparing to perform the original Olias of Sunhillow in its entirety in 2012 with an ensemble, a group of people out of New York and an orchestrator out of San Francisco.[4] Anderson also announced in January 2013 he was preparing to perform Olias of Sunhillow in its entirety with a group of young musicians out of Philadelphia.[5] Neither of these occurred.

In a Rockline interview on 20 July 2011, Anderson was asked about the sequel. He said that he hoped to have the first bits of Zamran out in a year.

In an interview to The Cleveland Sound on 30 August 2011, Anderson confirmed being working on a sequel to Olias of Sunhillow, describing it as a "large-scale project", (at the time) "three hours long", for which he had already written most of the music, but was still "trying to figure out how to recreate it correctly», explaining the «whole concept", i.e. to use «modern technology» to "create [...] an interactive album [...] an app that allows people to go on a journey, [to] choose a new journey every time they open it up, and hear it in a different way every time."[6]

In late 2012, a web site was launched (www.sevendragons.org/zamran now closed) entitled Zamran Experience, showing a short preview and describing it as "an interactive audio-visual album".

In an Ultimate Classic Rock interview on 3 January 2013, Anderson confirmed still being working on his sequel to Olias of Sunhillow, still entitled The Songs of Zamran: Son of Olias, likening the work to a slow-baking cake: "It's not ready yet, [...] I have all the ingredients but I haven't put it in the oven yet." The article explained that Anderson had "used the internet to collaborate with musicians from various parts of the world" and that "part of the delay [had] been due to many other projects he [had] released or [had] in progress, while part of it [was] simply finding the right narrative, Anderson admitting: "I have written the story now five times, [...] It is driving me crazy.""[5]

Anderson is philosophical about working without an apparent deadline: "It is a slow process",[5] claiming his new mantra: "it will happen when it happens."[4]

On 1 December 2014, Anderson confirmed on his Facebook page: "I keep myself busy working on the Zamran project."[7]

In June 2011, Anderson described the Zamran project as "part two" of Olias of Sunhillow, telling journalist Howard Whitman: "It's very exciting because it's a large-scale project and large-scale ideas but the technology isn't ready for what I want to do. I have the music and it's slowly cooking in the oven and it's coming along. It's about three hours of it now and it's going to be probably a five-hour project.",[4] adding: "People will be able to go into the realm of Zamran and they can choose their path every time they go in there. They don't have to take the same pathway so they can choose different pathways and hear different versions and different styles of music relating to the same theme that carries on all the way through. It's about the discovery of how the earth works. That's all."[4]

Anderson explained: "At each juncture you find about more about the mysteries of the planet earth and then more about the mysteries of the human condition, and then more about the inter-dimensional condition of this planet and how many inter-dimensional beings are out there that we don't see. And then of course, the extension of that is the inter-galactic people that we don't see. But they're here, don't worry. They're here. They've always been here."[4]

Anderson stated that The Songs of Zamran: Son of Olias would be an app incorporating visuals: "I'm working with three people at the moment [2011] — one guy in Poland, one guy in Canada, one in Brazil — and we're just creating slowly these projects and visual arts. It's looking really good. It takes time. It's something that's so different and so revolutionary. Because gone are the days of records, CDs, etc. etc. In five years' time, we will be using "mind drive", don't you know." The app would be an app for smartphones, iPads or computers: "It's an app for everything — an app for your computer, to your wristwatch, whatever you want to do. Because you'll have an implant and you can actually watch it in virtual reality with your Ray-Ban virtual reality glasses, when they actually make them. So that's the way it works."[4]