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| Composer, songwriter and improviser Daryl Shawn is a genre-hopping guitarist with an appetite for varied situations. Currently using the nylon-string guitar as his primary instrument, he weds his command of flamenco and classical techniques with a harmonic imagination grounded in jazz and the abandon of a rocker as he explores a wealth of solo and collaborative opportunities.
He is an active composer for solo guitar, having written complete suites of music for two weddings (collected on his 2008 release "As Promised"), as well as a growing body of more experimental pieces. Building on his experience as a songwriter for twenty years in a variety of rock and pop bands, he released a full-length collection of solo vocal songs in 2007 and is writing for several upcoming releases featuring two different groups, plus another starring a stable of different vocalists. As active as he is as a writer and composer, Shawn is perhaps becoming best known as an improviser. His approach is immediately distinctive, utilizing the unique setup of a four-track cassette player loaded with blank endless looping tapes and a microcassette dictaphone in conjunction with his able nylon-string. He frequently performs as a solo artist, and also in collaboration, having appeared onstage with artists such as Jonathan Lamaster (Cul de Sac), Todd Brunel, Moe Staino, and Blaise Sawula. He also has taken advantage of developments in technology to interact via the Net with artists worldwide. This capability allowed him to remotely take part in both the Boise Experimental Music Festival and the Finloop looping festival in the spring of 2008. He records and performs as a member of Chinapainting, a improvisational duo with Brooklyn's Jim Goodin that began life as an online entity. Chinapainting has performed at various venues including the Center for Improvised Music and ABC No Rio in New York, the Meridian Gallery in San Francisco, and on WVKR-FM at Vassar College. They appeared as a featured artist at the 2007 International Live Looping Festival in Santa Cruz, CA and released their third album, "Night Blooming Cereus", in the summer of 2008. Though he has lived in southern Mexico since 2004, Shawn performs and tours frequently in the United States and Canada. In the summer of 2008, he completed a 33-date tour, performing as a singer-songwriter, composer-performer, and in improvisational situations, sharing the stage with artists such as Adam Levy, Jonathan Segel, Paul Baribeau and Bird Names. The fall of 2008 finds him again onstage at several festivals, including the Norcal Noisefest in Sacramento which will demonstrate another angle to his musical interests. CV:
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