Beautiful Soul – inspiration

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The lyrics for “Beautiful Soul” are here.

In the house where I grew up, we had a copy of the painting “Temily Means Peace” by Western Australian artist Chelinay Gates (shown below) hanging on our living room wall. This picture was a strong image in my mind throughout my childhood, symbolising harmony and unity in diversity. My parents taught me that it didn’t matter what your racial or religious background was, we were all members of one human family. I learnt these beautiful and powerful words: “Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch.” (Bahá’u’lláh)

Temily Means Peace - Beautiful Soul

As I grew up, though, I realised that not everyone was being showered with these same ideals of harmony and unity as I was. In a society where prejudice is such a stealthy but pervasive reality, I found it difficult for myself personally to remain aloof of all the muck and not to succumb to the same preconceived assumptions, indifference and apathy that plagued so many others.
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Looking after Michael Buble’s VIPs

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So I had a really cool gig last weekend: two nights of performing for the VIP ticketholders to Michael Bublé’s shows at Perth Arena! Basically I did one solo set on keyboard each night in a little exclusive room while the VIP ticketholders enjoyed some finger food and wine. Despite it being set up like a private function (where the musician is essentially providing background music), I still got some applause, which was nice! Unfortunately it wasn’t a support gig (Bublé likes to tour with Naturally 7, and let’s face it – who can compete with them?), so I didn’t get the perks of backstage access and being able to watch the man perform. But it was a fun gig and I liked the feeling that he was in the building, not too far away. [pe2-gallery class=”alignleft” ] [pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-UipsA4hqzZQ/U2YkX7mNcXI/AAAAAAAABjg/2axj67TKojA/s144-c-o/IMG_3115.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/118294268219415625349/Blog#6009530746326053234″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”IMG_3115.JPG” ][/pe2-gallery]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Incidentally, on the second night I happened to share an elevator with Freo footballer Matt Pavlich. The guy had very nice manners, letting me go before him despite running a bit late for the show. He did look at me with curiosity though, when he got out at the top floor and noticed that I wasn’t getting out of the lift… he didn’t realise I was heading to the basement to load out my gear. Ah, the glamour of being a musician!

Tunesmith’s Cafe

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So every couple of months on a Thursday evening I pack my keyboard into my car and head to Tunesmith’s Cafe, to get my Open Mic Night on. I’ve never really been into doing Open Mic Night gigs, and I’m definitely past the point in my career where I need to do them to get my music and name out there. But there’s something about this ongoing event that I really enjoy, and feel it’s important to support it. The three blokes who run the show (Mike, Makk and Bobby) are so dedicated to it and have a really genuine desire to provide a platform for local singer-songwriters to get performance experience. They go lengths to make it a worthwhile experience, recording the audio of each performance for the artist, taking photos and handing out “audience feedback sheets” which they then collect up and give to the performer. They’re a humorous and friendly bunch, and have created something of a small community around what they do. Here’s some snaps from my recent appearance at Tunies, with these lovely fellas. You never did meet nicer people! [pe2-gallery album=”http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/118294268219415625349/albumid/6009530257423540481?alt=rss&hl=en_US&kind=photo” ]

The Ellington: my home turf

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Here are some snaps from our recent show at our favourite Perth venue, The Ellington Jazz Club. I must say, I do think that it’s the best show we’ve ever performed there… the band was really vibing that night, and the audience response was just amazing. I’m glad that a couple of attendees took some snaps to save the memories! [pe2-gallery album=”http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/118294268219415625349/albumid/6009529768042338401?alt=rss&hl=en_US&kind=photo” ]

 

WA’s Great South

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Just recently, the band embarked on the scenic 5-hour drive to WA’s Great South to perform shows in the lovely towns of Albany and Denmark. Here’s a snap of me and guitarist Dom Barrett at the ABC South Coast studios, where we did an acoustic on-air performance.

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Later that day we performed at the beautiful Denmark Arts Markets. Such a lovely, relaxed atmosphere, with the audience all chilling out on the grassy river bank.

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Under One Sun video shoot

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Some behind-the-scenes moments on the set of the “Under One Sun” music video, produced and directed by J Eshraghian.

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“The Art of Soul” at Fringe Festival

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Some snaps from our show “The Art of Soul” with visual artist Phil Doncon, held at Kulcha as part of Fringe Festival 2014.

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Beautiful Soul video shoot

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Here are some sneaky behind the scenes photos from the film shoot for the music video, produced by Red Bird Creative, for my upcoming single “Beautiful Soul”. You can see here my dress (designed by the wonderful Ayesha Parsons of Decisively Ambiguous), me in action getting my hair and make-up done, the crew in action filming, and then celebrating the end of the day with my pal Diego, who was such an amazing helper on the day, and Bill Dobbin, who was acting as the main character of the video.

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“Paint by Numbers” article in Western Suburbs Weekly 28/01/14

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 By Tanya McNaughton

The soulful sound of local songstress Shameem Taheri-Lee is certainly helping the 25-year-old make a name for herself.

Having grown up in Nedlands, the former St Hilda’s student released her self-titled debut album two years ago and has since supported international artist George Benson, Ronan Keating and Belinda Carlisle, toured Australia, the USA and Canada, plus had her single Turn It On used in the Kleenheat Gas advertising campaign.
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“Painting from the soul” article in The Post, 25/01/14

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By Sarah McNeill

Lots of artists paint to music, but few paint on stage to a live band.

Geraldton-based visual artist Phil Doncon has developed the art of painting huge canvases on stage accompanied by orchestras or bands. For the Fringe Festival he will join local soul singer Shameem Taheri-Lee on stage in The Art of Soul.
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