Maeve Hughes

"Maeve is the real deal- with a voice as smooth and soulful as waves hitting the beach at sunset, she's got soul!"

-March 2006 - Susan Angeletti, Soul/Blues Singer

Sometimes music is a healer, and that is definitely the case with singer Maeve Hughes’ album Begin from Within. The entire album, according to the liner notes, is about “healing and transformation.” Arriving after I found out about the death of a family member, Begin from Within helped me to begin the grieving process. Using the ocean as a metaphor for healing, each song demonstrates that peace can be achieved while going through tough times in life, as did Hughes when she suffered head injury from a car accident.

It is the rare album these days which has a coherency to it, not to mention a theme. Each track is part of a greater whole, and although they can be enjoyed separately, are best listened to one after the other. The horn section combined with Hughes competency on piano proves Hughes has managed to achieve a work of art with her fourteen jazz/funk/R&B fusion songs.

Listening to her sing conjures up memories of Dusty Springfield, and like the late, great singer, her voice is the epitome of soul. Hughes has the ability to sound both strong and soothing at the same time. Begin from Within is a classy album from a singer with a promising future.

www.feministreview.org
- www.feministreview.org

"Maeve's music is really hot." - Unsigned Music Magazine

Maeve Hughes’ first full-length CD, Begin From Within, is an interesting mix of soul, jazz and funk, with a little reggae thrown in for luck. At its best, this mixture whips up a musical cocktail that shakes the cobwebs off category-entrenched minds. Songs like Heron groove with upbeat acid-jazz, lyrics half spoken, half sung, while Broken Wing lays down a nice mid-tempo beat with a scratch turntable and floaty sax. Hughes has an interesting voice with a throaty warmth.
Hughes—who wrote all of the tracks (co-writing Empathy with Marcus Gilroy-Ware) and co-produced the CD—says the album represents the intense spiritual transformation she underwent as the result of a major car accident that gave her a near-death experience. This theme comes on strong, especially on cuts like Persephone’s Torch: "Just like Persephone, I dive down deep into Hades / Winter queen, I bring whatever I need with me.”
- Music-Reviewer.com

Maeve Hughes, an R&B/Soul singer, pianist and composer formerly of Nantucket, and Gokh Bi System (pronounced Go-Bee), emerging leaders of African Hip Hop from Senegal, will play the Muse on Friday, Sept. 28 at 9 p.m. as part of the Nantucket Art Council's Arts Festival. Hughes has played the festival the past two years, and has perfoemed with several island musicians on the streets, cafes and bars since her teens. She even organized the Nantucket Jazz and Blues Festival in 2004. Now a resident of Northampton, Mass., she recently released her first studio length album, "Begin from Within."

Following close on the heels of her set, will be her husband, Backa's band, Gokh Bi System, African hip hop Ambassadors. GBS dub their style Ancient Meets Urban and guarantee joy for all to see with their upbeat vibes and conscious lyrics. With ancient traditional rhythms, instruments and vocals accompanied by urban beats and rhyming by two MCs, they provide a hip edge rooted in a traditional mystique.
Maeve and Backa will also be playing at their wedding ceremony the following day which takes place at 5 p.m. at Cisco Beach. These two musicians wouldn't have their wedding celebration any other way!

Maeve's style has been hailed by critics as "soulful" and "sultry". The Brattleboro Reformer states "Maeve's sound involves a fusion of jazz and rhythm and blues with a flourish of hip hop." Combining Jazz and Hip Hop influences, Maeve's style has universal appeal and could be considered pop in the genre of R&B or Neo Soul. Her first full-length album, "Begin from Within," was released in May of 2007. Madalyn Sklar of GoGirls Music says of the CD, "Her latest release is a refreshing blend of styles that will whet your appetite for more."
After experiencing an intense transformation wrought by a tremendous recovery from a car accident and head injury, Maeve put her full effort into making music. "Music is what brought me back," she said. "It's what I'm here for and my encounters with near death confirmed my need to play at whatever cost. I don't think my voice really developed until I came through the brunt of my recovery.
"When my voice came through it was like a river ripping through a concrete dam. Everything I went through directly translated into my music - my thoughts became my lyrics, my poems became my songs, like an incantation to heal into wholeness."
Hughes spent countless hours by the ocean on Nantucket as part of her recovery. Her latest release, "Begin from Within" pays homage to both that recovery process and the ocean. Her single "Fly Away" features Mamadou from GBS and her video for it shouls be out later this fall.
Meanwhile Gokh Bi System's video "Mission of Music" has recently been featured on VH1 Soul.
Emerging from Senegal and considered leaders of the emerging African hip-hop movement and one of the most popular African groups in the U.S. today, GOKHBI SYSTEM has a style of music that fuses traditional African rhythms with contemporary Urban beats in a style which they've dubbed, "Ancient Meets Urban." The result is a sound that appeals to traditional music enthusiasts while at the same time reaches younger audiences seeking a more contemporary sound.
After reaching #1 on the charts, in 1999, the group was discovered by U.S. producers visiting Senegal who recruited them for the Senegal-America Project (SA Project), a non-profit organization. Since their arrival in America, Gokh-Bi System has opened for and shared the stage with: Kanye West, Damian Marley, Tribe Called Quest, Angelique Kidjo, Femi Kuti, Culture, Toots and The Maytals, Michael Franti (Spearhead), Erykah Badu, and with Grammy Award winning artist, Patti LaBelle.

September 19, 2007 - Nantucket Independent

Making Music

One of the most artistically resonant stories to come out of this year’s Nantucket Arts Festival is the romantic ballad of Maeve Hughes, who as a teenager cut her musical teeth while playing on the streets and in the bars and clubs of Nantucket.

At last year’s arts Festival, Hughes returned to her once and former home of Nantucket with only a piano and an overnight bag. Holding a performance upstairs at the Preservation Institute: Nantucket, she chatted with the audience while relaxing on her piano stool.

At that time, Hughes was in the middle of completing “Begin from Within”, the album that documented her recovery from a near fatal accident and head injury, and her subsequent “intense transformation.” A good portion of the album, which she released in May of this year, was inspired by quiet moments of reflection Hughes spent by the Nantucket shore.

“Music is what brought me back; it's what I'm here for,” said Hughes. “My encounters with near death confirmed my need to play at whatever cost. I don’t think my voice really developed until I came through the brunt of my recovery. When my voice came through it was like a river ripping through a concrete dam. Everything I went through directly translated into my music- my thoughts became my lyrics, my poems became my songs, like an incantation to heal into wholeness.”

Little did she know, during last year’s Arts Festival, that she was months away from meeting her future husband, Backa Niang, a vocalist and percussionist for Gokh Bi System- a performance group that bills itself as “African Hip Hop Ambassadors” and who have shared the stage with Kanye West, Damian Marley, Toots and the Maytals, Erykah Badu, and Grammy Award winning artists, Patti LaBelle.

Hughes planned to bring GBS this year to the Nantucket Arts Festival, where they performed at the Muse on September 28, before the couple threw a second, Nantucket wedding for the friends on the island the next day. The ceremony took place along the shores of Cisco, where Hughes spent so much time compiling her thoughts for the album that brought the couple together in the recording booth, where Backa assisted in some of the producing. For more on Nantucket Arts Festival, produced by Nantucket Arts Council, visit www.nantucketartscouncil.org

- N Magazine, The Nantucket Magazine Fall 2007

"(Maeve's) rich and emotive voice is the centerpiece of her soulful EP. (Her) sound involves a fusion of jazz and rhythm and blues, with a ... flourish of hip hop."

"The Aster Oblongifolius, otherwise known as October Skies, is a striking blue flower that reflects the type of azure that can only be found in an autumnal New England sky. The first song Maeve Hughes ever wrote is an homage to the perennial that is described as both easy going and stalwart. 'October Skies is about the place where melodies come from, a state of mind connected to my love of autumn and the falling leaves. October Skies is also a very special wildflower that grows in the moorlands of my homeland on Nantucket in the fall,' Hughes said."

"Drawing from the roots of both black and white cultures in America, I consider my own music 'original soul music,' because it all comes from my soul."

January 12th, 2006

FULL ARTICLE:

The Aster Oblongifolius, otherwise known as October Skies, is a striking blue flower that reflects the type of azure that can only found in an autumnal New England sky.
The first song Maeve Hughes ever wrote is an homage to the perennial that is described as both easy-going and stalwart. In a recent e-mail, the singer explained the composition that became the title track of her new ep. "'October Skies' is about the place where melodies come from, a state of mind connected to my love of autumn and the falling leaves. 'October Skies' is also a very special wildflower that grows in the moors of my homeland on Nantucket in the fall," Hughes said.
Hughes was drawn to music at an early age. "My family is very musical and artistic in general and supported my pursuit of studying piano from the beginning. For the first year, I played on photocopied sheets of paper that had piano keys on them, and I think this really helped me to internalize the sound as I had to imagine it. I began studying classical piano at age 6 and became quite proficient by age 9 or 10. I could play almost anything put in front of me from Mozart to Beethoven, Sonata to Ragtime."
Over the years, Hughes sang in a variety of settings; church choirs, choruses, theater, and the streets of Nantucket. Eventually she gravitated to playing blues and pop piano as well as some folk and rock guitar at open mics throughout New England. "I played in a variety of groups into my early 20s, but it was not until I was 24 that I had a breakthrough of my own musical artistic expression. After splitting up with someone I thought I was going to marry, I poured myself into my music around the clock. I found my voice with the fury of a river breaking through a dam."
Before that point, Hughes went through a period of feeling shut down from her muse. "I needed music as much as I needed God and that to be separated from it was very painful. Even though I was immersed in and surrounded by music I still had not found the courage to bring forth my own voice and say what I wanted to say.
"When I had my musical breakthrough, it became clear that this is what I had to do because I loved it so much and it offered me tremendous healing. With the support of several good friends who encouraged my music by listening to early versions of my songs and giving me feedback, I found my voice."
That rich and emotive voice is the centerpiece of her soulful three-song ep. Her rekindled passion and longtime fascination with jazz and the blues led the Hampshire College grad to study with Eugene Uman, director of the Vermont Jazz Center, and Boston pianist Harvey Diamond.
"Most of what I learned and played up until that point was entirely by ear," Hughes said. "Fortunately I have strong musical instincts and a good sense of rhythm and feel. Being a primarily self-taught jazz and blues pianist, I have had to make up for large gaps in my training through listening closely and teaching myself enough theory to achieve the sound I am after."
That sound involves a fusion of jazz and rhythm and blues, with an occasional flourish of hip-hop. "I am particularly inspired by artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu and Mary J. Blige. In addition to being influenced by underground DJ culture, I am also inspired by old school R&B and Motown from the '70s, including Marvin Gaye, Al Green, and Sly & the Family Stone, as well as funk, jazz, hip hop, blues, jazz and neo-soul, perhaps best represented by the new artist Joss Stone.
"Drawing from the roots of both black and white cultures in America, I consider my own music 'original soul music,' because it all comes from my soul."
Hughes will celebrate the release of "October Skies" with drummer Joe Kenney -- a regular at the Vermont Jazz Center's Wednesday night jam sessions -- and Brattleboro, Vt., bassist Dave Evans tonight at The Weathervane in Brattleboro.
"The show is with my trio but we also have some special guests coming out," Hughes added. "Accompanying us on guitar is Steve Crow from Leverett, and on saxophone, Bill Ballard from Saxtons River, Vt. We have a great time playing together and fortunately the musicians like the material enough to give it their creative all. People who come out to the show can expect a slammin' night with funky rhythm and horns driving the soul of the music."
Hughes has a number of lofty goals for 2006 and beyond. "Finishing the full length CD and promoting it on a national college tour; attending music school; getting a horn section; touring Europe and the world."

- Brattleboro Reformer

"Hughes' vocal rhythm is similar to Ani Difranco while her voice mimics the strength in Natalie Merchant's cords."

"When jazz musician and dancer Maeve Hughes comes out to Nantucket in the summer she likes to shake things up. Beyond teaching (dance) classes, Hughes has put together a jazz and blues festival that will feature over 10 musicians... "I was hoping that different combinations of people would come together for this event to work on things that they hadn't played out before... It was to encourage different jazz combos." The result will be musicians jamming togther in unprecendented ways."

“Calling the genre ‘music from the heart’ [Hughes] said jazz is all about feeling comfortable in one’s own skin. ‘When you get back to the heart of what (jazz) is, it’s experimental.’ ”

August 18, 2004 - The Nantucket Independent

“[Hughes’] soulful style comes from a deep well of spiritual renewal and she sings songs about healing and her connection to the ocean as a source of rejuevenation.”

"Hughes is a singer and pianist whose music reflects an original blend of jazz, funk and soul oriented and written on Nantucket."

August 12, 2004


- The Inquirer & Mirror

"Take some soul, jazz and mix it up with some hip hop influences and you get Maeve Hughes. Her latest release is a refreshing blend of styles that will whet your appetite for more."

-Madalyn Sklar, founder of GoGirls Music - GoGirls Music