A New Artist Emerges With The Simple Tools Of The Trade:  A Guitar and a Voice

SASHAMON

There are times when just sitting down and recording yourself playing the guitar and singing you can come up with some very cool tracks.  But there are other times when you go into a real studio and give the music the multi-track treatment and turn it into a production. In the Pop world, you NEED to record a bazillion tracks of stuff then record mega tracks of vocals to get the product the record companies are seeking.  

The multi-track Pop sound is NOT the technique that rising Hawai'i artist, SashaMon, uses to create waves in the local music scene.  The Island of Kaua'i is home for SashaMon (Sasha Makia Spiller-Reiff) and is where he crafts a very organic style of music which fuses traditional Reggae with multi-ethnic and modern influences of his island birth place.  Using minimal tracks, SashaMon creates very cool yet mellow recordings which have been turning up on the radio recently.  Without even sending out a press release kit, word is out on SashaMon and his recordings are getting air on the Big Island of Hawai'i already (92.7 fm) and he is now the #1 requested artist on Kaua'i.

 In 1993, upon Sasha's graduation from Molokai High School, he entered the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.  After graduating with a B.A. in Music and Media, he began to focus on playing quitar and ukulele, writing and engineering his own sounds.  With the support of his sister, Jesse, he ventured into getting some gear and started to record music at home.  

Soon, it became apparent that SashaMon had tapped into a strong, creative current in his spirit and people started to notice his music.  Playing mostly on Kaua'i, SashaMon and the Mons have been slowly bringing this new sound on to the scene by playing from the soul.  You can catch SashaMon, singing and playing guitar solo, at places like the Hanapepe Cafe (a kinda cool underground expression session food joint) from time to time.  

SashaMon's lyrical content is influenced by Bob Marley, amongst others, including his family, the island culture, John Lennon and Gandhi.  When you listen to his work, his influences are represented clearly and are the foundation of his lyric writing.   

Although he has completed about 25 songs, he is humble about his professional desires.  It has been a surprise to SashaMon that so many have shown such an interest in his work.  He does not create music with the goal of becoming famous or rich.  Rather, it is an expression of his personal journey.  It is something that he does for his own personal journey that has turned into a vehicle that others use for musical pleasure. For SashaMon, this has been an unanticipated source of happiness which fits with his laid back surfer lifestyle.  

Obviously, SashaMon is a musician who does what makes him feel at ease with himself while playing guitar and singing.  His music comes from the heart and celebrates people, the environment and positive interactions.  

Sasha told me,  "I think I have already done more musically than I had dreamed, but a goal would be to surf all day, play music all night.  Music gives me joy and wisdom.  It calms and energizes me.  It's a creative outlet.  Music is magic.  You can feel it but can't see it; kinda like God.  I'm interested in the power of music to affect the world and all the people in it.  I need to have all the people in the world experience peace and joy.  Music can spread truth as well as help with gettin'  your groove on.  Music is life and creation."  

With the organizational support of his sister, Jesse, SashaMon has opened a website where you can order some of his original home cooked goods.  There are some samples you can hear, a taste of his sounds on his website before you buy.  In the near future, SashaMon is going to be releasing the CD as a retail-ready package but, for now, you can get the sounds directly from SashaMon himself.

Check out his music at www.sashamon.com