Friday, February 15, 2008

LENI STERN"Africa"LSR

A SPIRITUAL CURRENT always powers Leni Stern's recordings, especially on "Africa," an album inspired by her immersion in Malian and Senegalese culture. Clearly the German-born, New York-based singer-songwriter-guitarist has found another home.

Recorded mostly at singer Salif Keita's studio in Bamako, Mali, "Africa" is a cross-cultural prayer meeting of sorts. The album has its share of purely insinuating charms; Stern's shimmering guitar work and an indigenous brew of vocal harmonies, blues bends and percolating beats see to that. But she isn't merely interested in having listeners succumb to the polyrhythmic weaves that distinguish "Alu Maye (Have You Seen)" and other tracks.

Much of the music is deeply soulful, a quality underscored by Malian vocalist Ami Sacko, whose robust contralto stands in sharp contrast to Stern's plaintive soprano, and by lyrics addressing sociopolitical nightmares -- the pleading "Childsoldier," for example -- and personal loss. The late saxophonist Michael Brecker, who appears on "Africa," inspires the elegiac ballad "1000 Stars," while the haunting "Saya (Farewell)" is dedicated to percussionist Don Alias, who died in 2006.

Because Stern doesn't collaborate with Sacko and fellow West Africans so much as commune with them, she never sounds out of her element, even when her pop and jazz sensibilities are most apparent.

-- Mike Joyce

Appearing Tuesday at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (301-405-2787,http://claricesmithcenter.umd.edu). Show starts at 5:30. Admission is free and on a first-come, first-seated basis.