Story behind the Song: Shadows
A short version of that story is on the sales page on bandcamp.com. which basically says its the exploration of stories about women and girls who mostly bear the brunt of headline stories and yet their own stories of untold sacrifices, heroic accomplishments and sheer perseverance hardly makes headlines, like shadows, ever present faintly talked about.
In researching the songs (Shadows is one song in a series exploring this theme), I looked at a number of headlines and stories from various media outlets in print and online, majority of the stories were about men, or related to men, very few stories on women, even the stories about women were either to support or sabotage the story of some man/men. This caught my interest, and I wanted to write about this intrigue, however I did not want to write from a "voice of women" perspective nor from an "expert on women affairs" point of view either.
Knowing of the power of impressions and impact of characters in narrating stories, I thought it best to share the insights gained in looking at the ever present difficulties, hardships, and inequality women face around the world from the viewpoint of characters. In the case of Shadows; a young girl who is an amalgam of the stories of war and hardships of war as it relates to women and girls became the best medium to write the song .
During research, be it talking to women friends of mine, some of whom I invited for coffee or tea and they thought I was asking them out, to reading and surfing the net (some friends thought I was creating a good excuse to look at photos of beautiful women ) to spending a lot of time at Barnes and Noble drinking hot coco reading books like Half the Sky, Well-Behaved Women Never Make History etc, and getting some snobbish stares "Why is the guy with Rastafarian hair reading feminist books?" at least one thing is clear we need more discourse on Women and Women issues.
As an Artist, as one who expresses himself best in the written word and through musical artistry , my intention is, I hope the little contributions I make can generate discussions, evoke contemplation and inspire action in the creating of conducive environments and provision of greater opportunities for Women in our shared goal toward a world of true equality (complimentary not sameness) of an ever advancing civilization.
