MARIE NAFFAH
'Natural Woman': An Exclusive Performance for LOOK UK
Fundraising for LOOK UK
Story
London singer / songwriters Marie Naffah, Celine Love, Fox Gunn and Viia join forces to celebrate International Womxn’s Day with their tear-jerkingly powerful rendition of Aretha Franklin’s iconic ‘Natural Woman’. All proceedings from the single will go to LOOK UK’s South Asian female support group.
For those who have followed the work of critically acclaimed artist Marie Naffah, they’ll know that the empowerment of visually impaired people, especially as it relates to music, is something extremely close to her heart. Marie’s grandmother became blind as a result of AMD (age-related macular degeneration), and since then she has campaigned to raise awareness for visually impaired musicians. In 2015, Marie teamed up with a group of six blind and visually impaired musicians in order to record her track 'Blindfold' which formed part of a short documentary that seeks to raise awareness and understanding for the issues surrounding visual impairment and sight loss. Watch the documentary here. Marie also delivered a deeply moving TEDx talk entitled ‘Making Music With The Blind’.
Spearheaded by Marie, she enlisted the talents of fellow London musicians, Indie-R&B singer-songwriter Celine Love, indie-pop singer-songwriter Fox Gunn and alt-pop singer-songwriter Viia. Brought to life at the iconic Premises Studio in Hackney, the song was arranged by Marie and Ian Barter and recorded all one day. With each artist taking a verse, they bring their own individual flare and energy to the track, culminating in a glorious four-part harmony. The result is a truly magical and effortless blend of each artist's vocal style and a contemporary take on the Aretha classic.
Speaking of the collaboration, Marie says “International Womxn’s Day is a day of celebration! It seemed the perfect opportunity to team up with some amazing female artists, pay homage to the musical powerhouse that is Aretha, and raise some money for this important cause. With life opening up again, I just want to seize every opportunity for in-person collaboration. The womxn I worked on this with were incredible; talented, gracious, humble, hilarious, you name it.
I chose Aretha’s ‘Natural Woman’ because it celebrates the authenticity of womxn. It’s less about making someone feel pretty or special - it’s about making them feel ‘natural’. It’s like saying ‘thank you for making me feel myself’, and to me, that couldn’t be a better message on International Womxn’s Day.”
LOOK UK’s mentoring project is a supportive network in the VI community, where people can share experiences, grow in confidence and skills and find ways to progress and thrive. LOOK are building a culture of structured and safe community support, whilst also linking people to other charities and organisations who can help support any needs that need to be met. Mentors are aged 18-35, and trained by LOOK staff team in mentoring skills. The charity offers this mentoring project through a secure and safe platform Brightside and allows partnerships to be carried out over 12 months.
To celebrate International Women’s Day, the funds raised from this project will be donated to a female-specific cause within the mentoring programme. The South Asian group is a national support group at LOOK UK. They provide a safe space where South Asian VIP females can come and create friendships and share common experiences amongst themselves based on cultural expectations and traditions. Their aim is to encourage confidence and positive wellbeing through our culture and through the VIP South Asian community.
Where Your Money Will Go
With just £6, we can pay for a young person to attend one of LOOK's VI-focused employment and opportunity days. Only one in four visually impaired people in the UK are in work. This needs to change – and our workshops equip young people to know their rights to ensure their future.
£30 will pay for an afternoon of face-to-face/one-to-one mentoring for a young person. At Look, we know the power of talking to your peers, which is why we run a peer mentoring scheme.
£50 will pay for an hour of counselling for a recently diagnosed young person or parent.
£100 will pay for our staff and mentors to deliver a World of Difference workshop in a VI young person’s school. Many of the young people we work with tell us school can be challenging, especially if their classmates don’t understand their visual impairment. Our World of Difference sessions promote inclusion and understanding and encourage visually impaired young people to speak out about the barriers they face at school.
£200 will pay for a visually impaired young person to attend our 3 day festival – LOOKFest.
£250 will pay to train a visually impaired mentor.
£400 pays for a year’s worth of regular, structured weekly mentoring support for a young person from a trained VI mentor and look staff.
£800 will pay for a child to attend our week-long residential independence summer school at Jamie’s Farm.
£1000 will pay to train a visually impaired mentor as a forest school leader – leading directly to real job opportunities.
ABOUT MARIE NAFFAH
Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter and all round creative Marie Naffah has the unique ability to unite people around a shared experience, and this is what truly sets her apart as an exciting star on the rise. With her recently released single ‘I Want More’ landing the coveted ‘Spotlight Artist’ slot on the Independent, as well as a glowing write up on Line of Best Fit, Marie is set to release her new EP ‘Trains’ in the Spring. The five track EP is yet another insight into Marie’s natural gift for telling vivid stories through her songwriting, tapping into the carefree escapism that can feel impossible in the present.
Listen to Marie’s new single ‘Run Away With Me’ here.
Follow Marie on Instagram.
ABOUT CELINE LOVE
Originally from Hamburg, Celine is an indie-R&B artist based in London. Her debut EP ‘Aquarius SZN’ was released last month, to widespread acclaim. Celine draws in her audience by telling stories with expressionism and self-discovery and angstful honesty at its core. Being of African-American, Jamaican and German descent, her background is a frequent point of perspective within her music.
Listen to ‘Aquarius SZN’ here.
ABOUT FOX GUNN
Born in Barcelona on a Friday night, FOX GUNN is a singer/songwriter who blends dark alternative pop with her rock roots. Having performed and released music for several years with her former band LULALONG and played both in the UK and Europe, Fox is now embarking on a solo journey of moody, empowering lyrics with strong queer narratives and is on a mission to make vulnerable badass: in a world where it seems like being emotional is for the weak, she turns the tables and sees it as a brave, authentic trait - which translates into her music in the form of headbanging drums mixed with heartfelt lyrics.
Fox is currently busy in the studio, with her debut single set to come out this March.
ABOUT VIIA
Dark pop singer-songwriter Viia was discovered at the age of 12 and has been plotting how to disrupt the industry ever since. From an early age, Viia devoured poetry and this gave her ways of viewing and writing about her lived experiences, which she does with unnerving precision; her lyrics at times devastating and assertive. The likes of The Arctic Monkeys and Florence & the Machine inspired her to craft songs that were unafraid and unapologetic; heart-on-sleeve moments that strike at the heart of what it is like growing up.