Nigel Shaw

Nigel Shaw is a long-established composer and musician whose musical career started in the mid-1980s. He is also a wood carver and traditional flute-maker, making many of the instruments with which he performs and records. The inspiration for most of his music stems from the spirit of the land, with its cycles of power, mystery and gentle beauty. In the creation of his albums Nigel uses many ancient instruments including handmade wooden and clay flutes, traditional whistles and recorders, smallpipes, dulcimer, psaltery, Eastern European overtone flutes (including the fujara and the koncovka), many types of drum (including djembe, cahon and darabuka) and percussion. He combines these with sound recordings gathered from nature and contemporary musical instruments such as piano, harmonium and synthesisers, in a fusion of ancient and new to create his landscapes of sound and soul-filled melodies as well as the dynamic tribal rhythms of his dance music. He has produced a diverse collection of recordings from the best-selling improvised meditation album, 'The River', to the classical voice and lament of 'Requiem : Well of Souls'. His work also encompasses wilder strands of dance music with the bands Riven and Global (4), including the exotic dub/reggae improvisations of Dubblehead.