Following the international success of La Saboteuse and Polyhymnia, the "High Priestess of psychedelic Arab jazz" returns in February 2025 with her 4th studio album on the pioneering Night Time Stories label.
Yazz Ahmed is a British-Bahraini trumpeter and composer who seeks to blur the boundaries between jazz and electronic sound design. Bringing together the sounds of her mixed heritage, she creates music that is intoxicating and fascinating. In recent years, she has taken her various groups to concerts in the UK and abroad, including Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, USA and Canada, and to major festivals such as WOMAD, Love Supreme, NYC Winter Jazz Fest and Pori Jazz.
His career is marked by collaborations with artists such as Radiohead, Lee Scratch Perry, Transglobal Underground, Arturo O'Farrill, Natacha Atlas, These New Puritans and Obongjayar. A Paradise in the Hold is inspired by the folk music of Bahrain, the island of two seas, in which the songs of pearl fishermen and their songs of longing and loneliness contrast with the celebratory music of the traditional women's drum groups that perform at weddings and festivals. Originally a 90-minute suite composed in 2015, Alhaan Al Siduri, the music has evolved over the past decade as it has performed with ensembles of different sizes, from solo to symphonic. For this recording, the material has been adapted to feature five guest singers.
