Just by listening to the music of 3 one experiences Miss Stern, who is completely transformed by the touch of Africa. From “Khavare” to “Calabas” and “Crocodile” the guitarist becomes an artist who even in the ordinary act of fingers on strings is able to impregnate each twang with an extraordinary note. Strung together with others in a chord, a phrase or a line, Miss Stern’s music grows in intensity to become that unstoppable force that she has become. The simple phrase in “Wakama”, for instance, continents collide and a melody expands in beauty, becoming a gushing ecstasy.
Similarly, when her fingers bite into the strings again in “Calabas” shadows and shining surfaces reveal themselves. The song contains darkness but in its revelation of anti-light the flicker of synapse between us and the African sun comes into being. And we are awake and alive again in a way that is somehow different to the way we have been a moment ago. It is as if her, as everywhere else Miss Stern – through her music and in her sublime artistry – has poured energy into the air around us. We, for our part, become changed forever because of her and the message she brings from Mother Africa.
Track list – 1: Khavare; 2: Barambai; 3: Wakhma; 4: Calabas; 5: Spell; 6: Colombiano; 7: Assiko; 8: Crocodile
Personnel – Leni Stern: electric guitar, n’goni and voice; Mamadou Ba: bass; Alioune Faye: sabar, djembe, calabas and voice; with Mike Stern: electric guitar (4, 5); Leo Genovese: Sequential Circuits Six-Trak synthesizer (4, 6); Gil Goldstein: accordion (2, 8); Muhammed and Princess Louise Faye: backing vocals (2, 8)
Released – 2018
Label – Leni Stern Recordings
Runtime – 32:38