Shawn van Staden

Shawn van Staden is a freelance guitar player from South Africa.
He has been performing, touring around Southern Africa and teaching music since 2001.

His first tour was with a Salsa troupe. Performing alongside capoeira dancers, salsa singers and a percussionist in a dance troupe called El Ritmo Latino.
During that time he was also playing in a variety of independent original contemporary bands, playing mostly rock and grindcore metal while expanding on his teaching experience.
Early-on he was asked to teach at The National School of Arts (to which he eventually became HOD in 2010/11).
From gigging with various independent projects, he landed a gig with touring cover-band -DENIM-, managed by Natasha Miller.
The experience gained while working with Natasha's team of people was invaluable. After many years of constant touring -while teaching-, Shawn ended up focusing on writing and gigging with rock-band; Mrs.B fronted by singer Pedro Barbossa.
4 Albums later; he decided to pursue orchestration and writing music for film and video-games.

2014-2020 was a time where gigs ran dry, but the theatre scene kept him busy. Reading gigs are a favorite for Shawn, but it could be the experience of being immersed in hybrid ensembles performing stage-productions.

As of 2021, he is pursuing a career in interactive arts, media and entertainment with a new focus on teaching underprivileged people music while composing music for videogames and production libraries.