Randy Zahara Bio:​

As a university student Zahara's favourite courses included creative writing, philosophy, sociology and economics.  While in university Zahara thought of himself as a materialist.  He was pretty sure there was no God and did not give much thought to spirituality or anything supernatural.  Since that time, Zahara has witnessed far too many events that defy rational explanation, and, having been present for the birth of both of his children, no longer questions the possibility of miracles.  Zahara's philosophy has evolved over the decades into a much more inquisitive and open minded view of what may and may not be possible which has also allowed him to trust and work more closely with the intuitive side of his consciousness, which, in turn, has had a creative impact on some of his more emotional and ethereal writing. 

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Zahara is not sure if the global consciousness he senses is a manifestation

of a superior intelligence trying to share its wisdom with the world, or if it

is something more organic arising from the anxiety and focus of an

over-crowded planet that is over-exposed to, and over-indulges in, social

media.  Whatever the case, the  important thing to Zahara, and what his

intuition is telling him, is that there is a lot of confusion in our world right

now, and what is needed the most at this time is for all of us to start

becoming more self-aware.  If we are to change the world in a positive

and meaningful way we must, as individuals, first take a deep dive into

who we are, where we have come from, why we act the way we do, what

our strengths and weaknesses are, what is important to us, and what

gives meaning and purpose to our lives.  

Shades and Degrees’, “Enlighten Me” is a reflective collection of songs from life experiences, combined with themes originating from a universal consciousness that share messages intended to inspire a global audience to begin on its journey of self-discovery.

 

Jim Shaw Bio: 

 

When I think back to when I was very young, I was always tuned in to music.

My mother played a lot of records at home, a variety of different kinds of music,

big band, crooners, country, folk, show tunes. I loved it all.  I was always aware

of what was playing on the radio, even when I wasn’t consciously listening to it.

I can still remember hearing songs on the radio that I should have been too

young to remember. When the Beatles took over the musical landscape in the

60’s, I was absolutely captivated by their music.

 

                                                To say that my mind was blown would be an

                                                understatement. I wasn’t just listening to their

                                                songs, I was feeling something deeper, I seemed
                                                to be aware of the song structures, the melodies, the harmonies, little   
                                                subtleties in the arrangements.  Soon I was experiencing all music that way.
                                                I was hearing things that I really didn’t understand or should have 
                                                understood, but I knew that I had discovered something incredible, although
                                                at that point I wasn’t aware of how profoundly it would affect my life.

                                                Sometime later I got my hands  on a guitar, and if I remember correctly, I                                                        tried writing my own songs before  trying to learn to play songs by other                                                          people. All  these years later it’s pretty  much the same.

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Randy and I started writing songs together somewhere around the mid to late 90’s. Honestly, I don’t remember the exact year. We had both written songs with others prior to working with each other. We found each other on line, in the early days of the internet. I think the site was called “The Muses Muse.” Although I had written both music and lyrics in my pre-Randy days, I was starting to find myself moving away from writing lyrics and more toward the music/melody. When I went online in search of a new creative partner, I

specifically wanted a lyricist.  One of us answered the others’ ad and he sent me some lyrics for a song called “Starlight”.  I wrote some music for it, made a demo tape and sent it to him. We’ve been writing that way ever since. (except that I don’t make tapes anymore, and I don’t have to send anything in the mail.)

Whenever I receive lyrics from Randy, the first thing I do is read them over a number of times. They are usually very complete in a number of ways, theme/form/structure, so ideas usually come to me very quickly. I start to feel things like genre/tempo/, at this point I may also start to feel an arrangement style.  Like reading any great poetry, the expressions and emotions, are very visible even at this point. Randy is very good at using language in a creative way. His songs are rich with imagery and metaphor. Besides being a brilliant poet, Randy has a great knowledge of song structure, so his lyrics always arrive in a very song friendly format. There are times when I might make suggestions for changes to the lyrics, usually just for the purpose of making a word or line fit in with the meter of the music. Occasionally I have suggested that a verse might make a better chorus or bridge. I always run those things by Randy, and let him make the final decisions and changes on anything related to the lyrics. In return he trusts me to make the musical choices. He certainly can offer musical suggestions, and on occasion has, but mostly we stick to our roles and responsibilities within the partnership, I respect and trust him with the lyrics and he returns the feelings for me regarding the music.

When I have my ideas roughed out in my head, and can visualize how I want the song to sound, I then take it to my studio (using the term studio very loosely) and there I began to experiment with a guitar or keyboard to help flush out the arrangements. At this stage, the ideas can still change, and often do, right up to and including the recording process. I make a demo recording for every song we write together.