Shinara

Shinara was formed in 1982 by a group of like-minded musicians intent on making nothing more nor less than the music they wanted to hear. Although predating ‘acid-jazz’ by some five or six years, this later became the lukewarm tag applied to Shinara’s recordings, although their output is widely acknowledged to have greater depth than most of the genre.The original band members were: Marius Kahan (violin, keyboards) (http://www.myspace.com/mariuskahan), Richard Scarfe (guitar), Mike Turtle (drums, percussion, vibes, keyboards) (http://www.myspace.com/turtlemichael), Ilbert Stubbs (bass), Pete Buchan (drums), who very sadly passed away in late 2006.Shinara recorded most of their work between 1982 and 1988. Their blend of jazz, rock, funk and Latin beats mixed with violin, electric guitar and vibes was well received by audiences, but their sole self-released album 'The View From Here' failed to grab the attention of London record companies.Lack of mainstream success led to the demise of the first incarnation of Shinara. Ilbert Stubbs was first to jump ship, joining a US tour with Uli John Roth’s Electric Sun. Mike Turtle had the good sense to move to Switzerland where he resides to this day, and Pete Buchan returned to sessions and West End shows. This left Richard and Marius, who never quite gave up but, compelled by the financial constraints of raising families, slipped quietly off into the world of IT.Twenty years later, founder members Kahan, Scarfe and Turtle are in the process of re-mastering ‘The View From Here’ for release on CD for the first time, along with previously unreleased tracks. Once complete, they will be looking to play jazz festivals throughout Europe in 2008/9.