Yazz Ahmed is one of the most remarkable jazz trumpet player and composer of her generation and new music from her is always great news. Following 2019’s Polyhymnia, the British-Bahraini celebrated musician has announced its much anticipated follow-up, A Paradise In The Hold. On it, Ahmed draws inspiration from traditional music and childhood memories of Bahrain, and her compositions are even more deeply entwined with her dual heritage than before. “A thread in my work has been searching for, establishing and, now, finally embracing and celebrating my cultural identity,” Ahmed says. “If my first album, 2011’s Finding My Way Home, represents the first steps on this path then with A Paradise In The Hold, I’ve arrived at a deeper understanding of how my British and Bahraini heritage can co-exist, in personal as well as musical terms.”

Writing for voice for the first time, she found inspiration in Bahraini wedding poems and the yearning songs of the pearl divers to write lyrics, and collaborated with a brilliant cast of singers including Brigitte Beraha, Natacha Atlas, Randolph Matthews and Alba Nacinovich.

Through this exploration into her heritage, and employing a rich tapestry of musical influences, the forthcoming A Paradise In The Hold stands as a powerful tribute to the beauty of Bahraini culture. “It’s another step in my evolution of making music,” says Ahmed. “There’s so much beauty in Bahraini music. I hope this album gives people a flavour of how vibrant its culture is.”

A Paradise In The Hold will see the light of day on February 28th through Night Time Stories and ahead of it Ahmed is enticing us with the magnificent and spellbinding title track, clocking in at 10 minutes. The single comes with an accompanying video made by Charlie Campion and Iman Ahmed. Watch it below.

British-Bahraini trumpeter and composer Yazz Ahmed had our full attention back in June when she teased her upcoming third album Polyhymnia. Releasing next month through Ropeadope Records, Polyhymnia is a suite of music inspired and celebrating the life of six female role-models, from Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai to civil rights activist Rosa Parks. The good news is that Ahmed has now shared the album’s first spellbinding single, ‘Lahan al​-​Mansour’, dedicated to Haifaa Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia’s first female film director. Take a listen below.

Two years on from the release of La Saboteuse, Bahrain-raised, London-based trumpeter and composer Yazz Ahmed has a third album on the way called Polyhymnia. Slated for an October release through Ropeadope Records, Polyhymnia is a suite of music inspired and dedicated to six female role-models, from Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai to civil rights activist Rosa Parks.

Preceding the album release, and bringing her La Saboteuse project to a close, the celebrated musician put out ‘A Shoal of Souls’, a special limited release 12″ single, available on her bandcamp. ‘A Shoal of Souls’ is a tribute to the many lives lost by those who have tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Yazz explains:

“I was already thinking about the migrants who perished at sea when I named the chapter The Shoal of Souls, and this new composition is dedicated to all the people who have lost their lives crossing the sea in search of a better future. I hope the music conveys the strength and power of the human spirit, the bravery to risk everything for their families, the anger I feel at the response of the West, a lack of empathy, a lack of compassion. They are not a swarm, they are us – humans. The music is also inspired by Sufism, the idea of whirling and turning, falling into a trance, a dream. I see a mirror with the whirling, turning ocean, a whirlpool of lost souls, of untold stories, talents and lives unfulfilled, joining together in the eternal dance and rhythm of a vast shoal of fish which seems to beat like a heart.”

‘A Shoal of Souls’ is a staggering piece. Take a listen now.