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Date: 8/22/2023
SUNDERLAND — Local daughter Maya Sharpe will perform her music at the Sunderland Library on Sept. 1, her first time performing in the Connecticut River Valley since high school. Her small format images will also be on display at the art gallery in the Lane Family Reading Room.
Sharpe, 39, a Brooklyn resident and veteran backup singer, will bring her band, The Natural, to perform with her. Singing, though, is a normal part of her day.
“It’s always been a staple of how I walk around in the world,” Sharpe said. “The way I learned was to see if I could make my voice sound like the singers I love…Getting to know my voice was through imitation and seeing what kinds of things I can do with it.”
Sharpe grew up in a household full of music. Gospel influenced her, as did rhythm and blues, the work of Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Dina Washington, Nancy Wilson and Prince. She listened to both men and women to see if she could achieve with her voice what they managed to do.
As well as singing in a highly expressive style, Sharpe is a well of visual creativity. Her show, The Walls are Postcards, features pieces with an iconic style of imagery. The small format suggests simplified content with immediate impact. According to a press release, the point of view, depth, lines, shapes, color and framing express the interconnected nature of our world.
“I drew on what I found in my perspective, after going through thousands of photos,” Sharpe said. “The simplicity of the composition, very clear subject matter, whether it’s a textual story or landscape story, the simplicity in that makes…my photographs.”
The Walls are Postcards will be on display until the end of October. Sharpe’s performance on Sept. 1, part of the library’s Down by the River series of musical events, suggests her dual means of expression, visual and verbal, will make a lasting impression.
“I performed in New York, L.A., London, all these places, but really haven’t performed in the Valley, especially beside my beloved Connecticut River,” Sharpe said. “I’ve been in the studio with the Neville Brothers…a lot of Brooklyn based bands, a lot of studio work for them…I did a show, sang a couple shows backup for Aaron Neville.”
While singing backup paid the bills, Sharpe didn’t form her own band until 2015. When she moved to New York in 2006, “open mics were really raging here,” Sharpe said, and she hit them all. She also sang open mics in Boston, while attending Berkeley School of Music. She attended classes at Emerson College, through the Cross Arts Consortium, and eventually earned a masters degree in filmmaking and cinematography from the New York Film Academy.
Sharpe didn’t record her own music until the coronavirus pandemic. Selections can be found on YouTube. Emily Pettit, a member of the Board of Trustees of the library, brought her to the attention of staff.
“I’m incredibly excited that Maya Sharpe and The Natural will be playing in the Sunderland Public Library’s Down By The River series,” Pettit said. “Maya Sharpe’s voice is deeply special and it is sure to be a great show.”
Maya Sharpe and The Natural will perform on Friday, Sept. 1, beginning at 6:30 p.m., in the backyard of the library. The show of her postcard images, The Walls are Postcards, will have an opening that day from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Lane Family Reading Room. Food will be served. Those attending the concert should bring a chair or blanket.