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Maria Naffah - a review of new singer songwriter
MARIE NAFFAH
THE STATION SESSIONS
The Station Sessions is a new addition to London’s summer festival scene. Backed by the Prince’s Trust, it offers a platform for new and unsigned artists.
The idea is simple: instead of all that promotional work expended on trying to get a crowd to a music venue, why not take the music stage to somewhere a crowd can be found: like St Pancras Station on a summer evening. Add refreshments available from the station stalls, including the posh mezzanine champagne bar and viola! An instant festival with no mud.
Marie Naffah had the 1st July spot. Describing herself in the title of her opening number as ‘Just another Singer/Songwriter’ she is an 18 year old guitarist performing mainly her own work.
With confidence to spare, Naffah did a 40 minute set that attracted a good crowd of passing commuters who stood listening with idle interest at first and ended with many sitting on the floor (with a bagel and a drink) enjoying the music. The surprisingly good acoustics were interrupted just once by a security announcement threatening to blow up unattended baggage – which Naffah sang over with a smile.
Her songs are about things that effect young women. There were some great lyrics; a familiar complaint about inattentive boyfriends in “I will be on my best behavior and you will be on your Blackberry”; and a line from ‘Mr. Busy’ – “your only male voice is your voice mail.” In an odd move, Naffah blindfolded herself to do a song about someone who had lost their sight, gimmicky but it sort of worked.
The guitar playing was pretty good but overused a capo to change the pitch rather than using different chords to give texture, which combined with little variation in time signatures made the songs a somewhat samey, always a problem for lone guitar singers. But Marie Naffah has a fine contralto voice, reminiscent of Tracy Chapman.
Singer songwriter is tough genre to break into, but there is no doubting Marie Naffah’s talent or ambition. An artist to watch. This free festival spot was a great venue for a newcomer.