Ahji Love | Photo courtesy of the Hayti Heritage Center
It doesn’t matter if there are a mere 12 people, 120, or even 12,000 in attendance: A true performing artist gives it their all.
That was the case last Wednesday, June16, when rhythm and blues songstress Ahji Love performed an hour-long set of original songs and covers on the stage of the Hayti Heritage Center. There were 12 people in the audience of the historic sanctuary, and two of them, Fayetteville natives Damar Young and Jamal Sutton had arrived to sing along with Love.
Love is a native of Fayetteville who attended Meredith College; she now lives in Charlotte. In 2016, she started working as a backup singer for fellow singer and songwriter Fantasia Barrino, the High Point native who shot to near-instant stardom in 2004 when she won season three of American Idol. Love told the INDY that she has taken a break singing backup for Fantasia, who recently gave birth to her second child.
“She was my inspiration to go solo,” Love says. “She told me, ‘You’re too good. You need to have your own thing.’”
Love is a commanding, regal presence on stage. She started singing in church and has been singing professionally since she was 14 with the likes of gospel stalwarts like John P. Kee and Donnie McClurkin. While touring with Fantasia she has performed in concert with the likes of Charlie Wilson, Anthony Hamilton, and Robin Thicke,
“I started doing my own thing,” she says about her transition from gospel to R&B singer. “But my core values and my standards are still the same.”
The singer later told the audience that in addition to R&B and gospel, she also sings country music. (“I’m like a box of chocolates, baby!")
Her performance early Wednesday evening was part of Hayti’s “Don’t Stop The Music” series in honor of Black Music Month. The series kicked off on June 2, with Durham gospel artist Charles “Chuckey” Robinson, followed by the soulful Durham blues rocker Emily Musolino on June 6. Before Ahji began her performance, Quentin Talley, who is the Hayti Center’s program director, reminded the audience that the building was formerly the home of the St. Joseph’s A.M.E. Church is celebrating its 130th anniversary this year.
“I know the ancestors are looking down at us right now and going, ‘hell yeah, we're still here,’” Talley said.
Ahji, who released a new album, Shine, on all streaming platforms, offered a warm and intimate performance on the Hayti stage. It was not a challenge to imagine her in an even more intimate, dimly-lit nightclub. Accompanied by guitarist Laurence Thompson, after she performed an original song, “Before,” Ahji explained that R&B “is near and dear to my heart because it’s storytelling to me.”
Hers is a fresh voice, at times playful and coy. There’s a sweetness in her spirit and a growing emotional range that will surely deepen with time and experience. High points of the early evening performance included a cover of Lauryn Hill’s version of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You,” that showed off the range, color, and dynamism of her voice. Ditto for her covers of “Get You” by Daniel Caesar that she mixed with Toni Braxton’s “Long As I Live.”
Between songs she talked about her musical community in Charlotte where they gather at a spot called the Greenhouse.
“We break bread together, we sing together,” Ahji explained to the audience. “There are no egos in the room.”
The regal, albeit personable songstress created even more intimacy in the sanctuary space when she sat on the edge of the stage. The storytelling element was in full bloom when she sang a lovely weave of Anita Baker’s “Sweet Love,” Sade’s “No Ordinary Love” and Chaka Khan’s “Sweet Thing.”
“Oooh, y’all sound so good to me,” Ahji crooned when the audience sang along with her.
The Hayti Heritage Black Music Month series will continue Wednesday, June 23, with a hip-hop performance by Charlotte native Nige Hood and The Folk Rap Band, and conclude June 30 with a block party featuring Triangle wax-spinner DJ Gemynii.
Comment on this story at music@indyweek.com.
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