After a year and a half of social distancing, virtual concerts, and live streams, Saxophonist and singer, Lefa Mosea is back with his second new recording, Double Standard, set to be launched this week.
Born in Sebokeng, Gauteng and based in to Port Elizabeth where he went to study music at Nelson Mandela University in 2008, Lefa’s musical canvases draw from different experiences. Double Standard an album that has adult contemporary influences with a touch of fusion jazz is an alluring ambiance that calms the spirit yet is graced with uplifting instruments. It boasts African sounds and languages and seeks to celebrate African identity and culture.
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Lefa reveals that Double Standard is inspired by life in general as well as what’s going on around the country and continent.
“The album is very diverse hence the name “Double Standards”. It doesn’t have a centralized theme. We move from African jazz to fusion to funk to adult contemporary,” he explains.
Double Standard has been five years in making. The album took this long to release as the making of the album was met with so many glitches.
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“This album was initially recorded in 2016 at some studio in Gqeberha, a very professional studio with some of the state-of-the-art equipment and the owner is a respected engineer but they handed my project to a student who has just graduated from their institution so a lot of things went wrong and the album wasn’t properly recorded,” says Lefa.
“This meant that I had to re-record the whole project from scratch with zero budget this time around and that kind of sent me into a mini depression that I wasn’t even aware of. Luckily I managed to get a recording studio that was patient with me and they saw the potential I had and so I went on to record without paying first. Through hard work, I managed to finish the album and pay off my debt,” he adds.
He adds that Covid-19 and its restrictions also played a huge role in the delay of the album and release.
On the album, Lefa worked with his band and on the production side, he worked with his late friend, pianist, and producer Siyabulela Mdebele and Edgar Muzah as a co-producer. He also worked with poet Dongadala Bemdiliza on “A prayer for Libya “.
“This album is different from what’s out there. To be honest my sound leaves a lot of people perplexed in terms of how to categorize me and my sound and I have come to terms with that. Some jazz enthusiasts say I am not jazzy enough while some people who enjoy maybe Afro-Soul/jazz say I am too deep sometimes so I don’t know.”
Lefa, who has performed on national and international stages, playing along with big stars further shares that all of the songs in the album came at different stages and years of his life so each song is unique in that regard.
“What I will say though is that the material is fresh and is the best I have written thus far in my career,” he explains.
Lefa will launch and record the deluxe edition of the same album on Saturday, November 6 at Athenaeum in Gqeberha.