Composing music is big part of my life, my compositions explore culture, ideas and social behaviours with the intention of creating awareness, establishing healthy conversations and promoting positive change... and it grooves :)
"The Award winning composer, songwriter and producer Renell Shaw is one of the UK's most talented instrumentalist who's recent work etches the vibrant legacy of the Windrush generation into Britain's musical history" - PRS for Music
THE WINDRUSH SUITE
My composition ‘The Windrush Suite’ won an Ivor Novello Award during one of the most uncertain years of my life (2020). The music I composed that year opened up opportunities to discuss subjects such as: the impact of the Windrush generation (my grandparents) who began to arrive in England from the West Indies at around 1948, the prejudice they experienced, the necessity of community for survival and how their cultural influence contributed to music, literature, fashion and economy of today.
ECHO OF A REQUIEM
'Echo of a Requiem' is the second movement from my second suite 'Echo in the Bones'. While 'The Windrush Suite' was written at the beginning of the 2020, 'Echo In The Bones' was written near the end of 2020, after I had given myself time to discuss and process how I truly felt about the issues that took place that year. As a result this suite became an exploration of the thoughts, experiences and psychological impact of prejudice and injustice. In the video below, I explore the context and subtext behind the lyrics of 'Echo of a Requiem'.
PRIDE (A LION'S ROAR)
Pride (A Lion’s Roar) was commissioned by Music Theatre Wales. It narrates the experience of a fictional character who experiences the cultural ostracisation that many people of colour have experienced growing up in the United Kingdom.
The character feels like he has to make himself smaller to be accepted, turning his roar into a purr so that others don’t feel threatened.