BIOGRAPHY
One liner:
Shawna Caspi is a guitar-picking, classically-trained folkie with a sweet-tooth for a good story, a sly lyrical wit, and a rich, powerful voice.
One paragrapher:
Shawna Caspi sings of love, travel, home, and heart, distilling each experience into a series of vibrant snapshots, coloured with humour and grace and arranged with care and craft. Her sophomore release, Skyline, showcases her clever storytelling and skillful fingerpicking guitar style.
One pager:
Shawna Caspi teeters between city girl life and the small town fantasies that come from weaving in and out of Canada's colourful landscapes. Her upcoming release, Skyline, takes the listener from Shawna's hometown of Ottawa, Ontario to her current base in Toronto, and out on the highway, through farmers' markets, bus stations, and alleyways, dodging lightning and passing rooftops peeking out through the trees, from sinking boats to subway cars, from a spectacular planetary crash to the peace that comes after the last flame is extinguished. Recorded, played on, and produced by Jason LaPrade (Jon Brooks, Tucker Finn), the album also features the outstanding talents of Murray Foster, Adam Warner, Joel Schwartz, Anne Davison, Rosemary Phelan, and Anne Lindsay, with each player adding their creative musical sensitivity to the project.
The imagery is vivid and detailed, shaped by Shawna's remarkable ability to highlight even the tiniest moment and give it the brilliance and weight it deserves, the reward of its mere existence against all odds. Each track is gently nudged and pulled by Shawna's peculiar song structures and delightfully surprising rhyme schemes and complimented by her intricate, classically-influenced fingerpicked guitar. In 2010, Shawna was recognized as a finalist in the Canadian Regional Round of the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest.
Shawna is equally at home under a festival stage tent or in a cozy living room. She has performed in venues from cafes, to theatres, from house concerts to the main stage at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto, in the North by Northeast Music Festival, and even in a series of unplugged sets on VIA Rail's long haul train from Montreal to Halifax and back. Her solo show is easily portable and she has already taken it around Ontario and out to the east coast. With nowhere to hide behind one microphone and an acoustic guitar, Shawna's blunt honesty and authenticity is evident in her music and personality. She puts a crowd at ease with her warm demeanour and endearing awkward charm. With each live show, more secrets are spilled, more stories are shared, and Shawna sings it all with her powerful, shimmering voice.
With the release of Skyline, Shawna is planning to go out on tour again in 2012, bringing her tunes to new spaces and revisiting some of her favourites.
Skyline - 2012
Paint by Numbers - 2008
Trip the Light - 2005
About Shawna's live performance...
"Shawna Caspi is one of the most engaging performers to ever grace our concert series. A skilled composer and lyricist; her haunting voice and stunning guitar accompaniment round out this complete folk package. Her personal stories, both humorous and poignant, are told seamlessly through her intriguing lyrics and between-song banter. Every song is a narrative whose clever rhymes and unexpected musical structures ensure that the audience listens to every word, from beginning to end."
- Joanna Mills, O’Hara House Concerts, Toronto, Ontario
"Shawna Caspi recently performed for a launch of the winter issue of The New Quarterly, a Canadian literary magazine. Music always warms an audience, but Caspi is not just any musician. First, there's her lovely, lovely voice, and equally lovely stage presence. Then there's her thoughtful programming, her gracious way with an audience: she'd chosen her songs to fit with the theme of the evening and she spoke warmly and, I think, from the heart about both the magazine and its writers. Finally, there were her lyrics. These matter to an audience of word people, and she didn't disappoint—she's atune to sense as well as to sound, and so her lyrics make you both think and feel. A truly captivating performance and without a lot of razzle dazzle--just an acoustic guitar, a soaring voice, and words you wanted to remember."
- Kim Jernigan, editor of The New Quarterly: Canadian Writers & Writing
"Three elements came together to make for a wonderful show. Shawna Caspi's voice, being the first, has a well-sounded tone, a smooth bottom end, and clarity, making for a richer, sweeter listen. Shawna's finger work on the guitar is assured love making of the neck and strings, bringing forth delightful melodies and rhythms. And of course, her rapport with the audience was light, and friendly. Shawna is a talented composer, musician, and entertainer, able to turn a small room of strangers, into a group of friends."
- Dean Verger, former owner of Rasputin's Folk Cafe, house concert presenter
"Shawna Caspi has the rare gift of presence, a warm presence that immediately invites audience engagement, from the first strum of her skilled guitar playing to the last exquisite note she sings. Shawna's lyrics show, her music and delivery tell; her songs are beautiful stories that stay with listeners long after the CD is spun, long after the gig is over."
- Andy Frank, founding partner, Roots Music Canada
"Shawna Caspi's beautiful and confident voice, her sophisticated guitar playing and intelligent lyrics delighted our audience. We've already had requests asking us to bring her back to the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage. And we definitely will!"
- Sandra Whitworth and Jeanne Ward, St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage, Morrisburg, Ontario