Monica Shannon

Monica Shannon has been singing and writing songs for more than ten years. When she was 12, she started playing piano and noting her first inspirations. She had a great teacher, Mr Aldo Garavini, musician at ?La Scala Orchestra? in Milan. He introduced her to the magical music world of Prokofiev, Bela Bartok, Debussy; he taught her how poetry inspires music and vice versa. She still remembers how when she played the piano, he used to read a poem and, during one of those sessions, she got to know Dylan Thomas and Octavio Paz as well.

.unforgettable lessons! Then, when she was 17, she started singing and, at the same time, she wrote her first soundtrack for a comedy in her home town theatre, ?La Verit? di Mezzanotte? (Midnight Truth). In order to improve her vocal technique, she took jazz style classes with a famous singer, Tiziana Ghiglioni, for two years. During that period she was invited to be the lead vocalist of a Jazz-Swing Band, ?The 52nd Street Swing Band?, performing standards in pubs and theatres. Monica has always been looking for her innermost artistic direction and she thought that travelling was the right way to start to open her mind towards different cultures and music styles. The place where she started this adventure was Ireland. A lot of her songs are actually inspired by traditional Celtic music and then arranged in a modern style. An increasing collaboration with other artists has also improved her creativity. First of all, with her previous band, the ?Diadema?, she produced a high quality demo of her repertoire and most successful concerts. Then, thanks to the support of two talented songwriters and producers, Seba and Rik Sentenza, she had the opportunity to re-arrange some of her best songs. Now she is preparing a digital version of her first album that will be mastered in New York. The aim of her music is to convey all her feelings, sensations and emotions, so that if you close your eyes you can see what she sees and feel what she feels. After various journeys, she is now getting into humanitarian causes. Being a passionate ocean lover, she is firmly against the hunting of whales and finds the killing of these gentle giants absolutely appalling. Also, thanks to one of her best friends, Marina, who stayed for a long time in Laos, she got to know the cause of MAG (Mines Advisory Group), a British Organisation operating in different countries, fighting against unexploded landmines. She wishes to support them through her music.
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Monica Shannon is a member of IMIsound
Independent Musicians from Italy