Elhenan is a studio band, set up back in 1989 for the express purpose of releasing locally written Praise and Worship Music in the New England area.
Those originally involved with the project looked for a suitable Biblical name for the band that was not a name that was that well known. Many names were put forward until finally Elhenan was chosen. Elhenan was one of King David's Special guard of thirty (see 2 Samuel 23:24 -"Elhenan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem") and it was because of his association with David (the musician) that finally swung the choice in favour of this name.
The first album, Take What I Am was released in 1990 on cassette only. Whilst not designed to take the world market, it filled the need at the time. This album has now been digitised and made available on CD as well.
Tracks were prepared for a second album (Nineties Praise) in 1996 but for many reasons the final compilation was never made and released, a couple of these tracks being used in the Lifting Up To Him album that was released in November of 2002.
Australian Praise and Worship music is well and truly alive and there are many songwriters invoved in the churches across Australia with material. Elhenan continues to be a vessel for some of that music to be made available to the wider sphere beyond the local church involved.
Over the years the line up of the studio band obviously changed but as the music is what is important to all those involved, this was never (nor will it ever be) an issue. The musicians and singers involved continue do so because they believe that letting others share in the music is what is really important.
In late 2002, Elhenan released a collaboration songwriting album. The concept them of the album and the words of many of the songs were written by Marion Ryan, these were then set to music, along with chosen Psalms that fitted the theme. The result was the album Seed Of Faith And Love. This album explored to idea that through all our faith, we start as a seed and grow and, then produce spirtual seeds of our own to enable the cycle to continue.
August, 2005, and the album Homesick For Heaven arrived and featured a new style of presentation of music that could be easily used in praise and worship. The songs on this album deal with applications to day to day life.
Work began, late in 2009, for a new album. With much emphasis these days on the coming of the end time, it was decided that this album was to focus on this as its central theme. By early 2010, the album title, Same River Fresh Breeze, had been settled on, with nearly half the songs having already been written. At least two of the track that will be included are co-written with other Christians. The decision, made early in 2010, was to release all the tracks on the album as a separate video album. This was a mammoth undertaking but one that was felt to be able to add a new dimension to the songs.
The release of this album was also a part of the evolving status of Elhenan as a solo singer, using studio musicians and singers to provide much of the depth of the songs and to also enable more flexibility in presenting the music in a live format as was being requested by many people.
Warriors Of Zion is a retrospective release. It was originally recorded in Armidale back in the late 1990's to be released as a teaching album for those who came in contact with the music and wanted to take it back to their own churches. For a number of reasons, the release did not go ahead at the time but in recent times there has been a number of requests for these songs and so the album was remixed and released in April, 2012.