14.03.25
On Saturday 8th March, we marked International Women’s Day by sharing, celebrating and honouring ALL of our female-identifying artists taking to the stage for mjf 2025. But since then, we’ve been fortunate to sit down & delve deeper into the craft of three of our headline artists taking to the stage this year: Yazz Ahmed, Camilla George & Sanem Kalfa. From a variety of different backgrounds, each artists’ work contains strong international links with their musical identity infused by their mixed heritages.
Read on to learn a little more about their work, influences and advice for the next generation.
1.) Could you speak a little about your route into jazz. How did you get your start?
My maternal grandfather, Terry Brown, was a jazz trumpet player in the 1950s, playing with the likes of John Dankworth, Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott. Later he became a record producer for Pye and Phillips. He played his favourite records to me when I was just 10 years old and ignited my love of jazz and of the trumpet. The first jazz record I can remember was by Dizzy Gillespie and I was hooked. I loved the freedom of expression, the rule breaking, the mixing of genres and it made me feel excited.
2.) If you had one piece of advice for an early career female artist on the beginning of her journey with jazz, what would it be?
Work hard and don’t give up! The reality is that you may have to shout louder and work harder than your peers because sadly, we can still get overlooked. You might feel frustrated and down trodden, trying to get yourself heard, but be brave and call out any injustices and move towards those that nurture you. My career has been filled with many failures and I’ve come across lots of discrimination but I refused to let anything get in the way of following my passion.
3.) ‘A Paradise in the Hold’ has been a 10- year-long development process. Can you reflect on this?
I’m really glad that I took my time over recording this music and creating this new album. If I’d rushed into recording it back in 2015 it would have been a pale shadow of what it’s become. This music was conceived before the release of La Saboteuse, my second album, and at a time when the chemistry between the members of my band were still developing. During the next decade we performed hundreds of times together in different combinations, all around the world, and one of my aims when recording was to capture some of that live energy in the studio. Also I hadn’t yet met Natacha Atlas, Randolph Matthews or Alba Nacinovich, three of the wonderful singers on the album, or even begun working with George Crowley on bass clarinet. They have all shaped the music you will you hear by the force of their passionate artistry. It did take longer to complete than I had planned, partly because of the pandemic, but it was during that period of enforced isolation that some of the most creative developments took place, at home in my studio.
4.) The album’s musical influence comes from your Bahraini roots – how has it been to embrace and delve deeper into this side of your heritage?
This has been an ongoing process that really started in 2008, when I decided to take some some Arabic lessons (sadly I wasn’t taught to speak Arabic at home and went to an English speaking school). I also began studying Middle Eastern music and actually took some lessons with violinist Samy Bishai, who appears on the opening track of A Paradise In The Hold. This led to an experimental recording session with bass player, Janek Gwizdala, which became the framework for my debut album, Finding My Way Home. That was really me dipping my toe into this fusion of Arabic music, jazz and electronic soundscapes, which has developed over the years. I gradually began to investigate the unique and melancholy Bahraini folk music more deeply. I was trying to avoid the generic cliches familiar from western film scores, whenever the action takes place at an oasis for example. I’m so moved to have been able to include my Bahraini family on this record, it makes me feel more connected to that culture and more accepted by them for who I am.
1.) Could you speak a little about your route into jazz. How did you get your start?
I got into jazz because my Dad used to sit me on his knee every Sunday and play all of his jazz vinyl. He was an avid jazz fan and love Sonny Stitt, Jimmy Smith and Sidney Bechet. He used to regale me with stories about when he had seen jazz legends in concert such as Cannonball Adderley- I was hooked!
2.) If you had one piece of advice for an early career female artist on the beginning of her journey with jazz, what would it be?
I think it would be to focus on your craft- I have never let myself be defined by boundaries others have put on me, you really just need to aim to be the best musician that you can absolutely be I believe.
3.) Your latest 2022 album ‘Ibio Ibio’ draws on influences from your Nigerian heritage & specifically the Ibibio tribe. How has it been to embrace & delve deeper into this part of your heritage & identity?
I have always written music inspired by Nigerian and Grenadian heritage and that has been something that was incredibly important to me as a composer and performer. I enjoy researching more into my heritage in order to write and create new works.
4.) Your music is self-described as containing a politically minded subtext. Could you expand a little more on this? What conversations are you exploring within your music?
My music is really about peace, hope and love and the desire that we can all live together as one. That is the main political theme throughout.
1.) Could you speak a little about your route into jazz. How did you get your start? Why jazz? Was there one moment or series of moments that enabled you to fall in love with genre?
I didn’t grow up listening to jazz music. I was more into Turkish pop when I was very young, then I jumped blindly into classical music studying at the high school also where I met the cello. Towards the end of my university years I started to sing and got into jazz songs then so on.
I’m here till this day with many changes and many transformations.
2.) If you had one piece of advice for an early career female artist on the beginning of her journey with jazz, what would it be?
This would be a suggestion to every artist in the early stage, to be supportive, to stand behind their own personalities, and value what has made them here today. Respect the past and be visionary.
3.) Within both your own heritage & the makeup of the band itself there is a real fusion of cultural landscapes & identities (South Korea, Turkey, Netherlands, The Caribbean). Could you reflect upon how this has impacted your musical soundscape?
The way we grow up has a big part in who we are today. And our cultural background is a great part of it. But mainly what is important is that we meet in one place and develop a common language. I believe this makes music special, that I hope will reach the audience from us.
4.) ‘Miraculous Layers’ is described as a project that “explores the spectrum of human feelings, yearnings, fears and delights contained in and expressed by the human voice.” Could you expand upon this? What might an audience expect from your performance with us?
Since we come from different backgrounds, different places, different textures… we meet many times in a common place as it comes to the feelings. We just experience, process and express them differently. With Miraculous Layers, we are aiming to open the door of feelings, bravely and by meeting in a common place with the audience.
As the UK’s first festival signatory to Keychange, mjf has a long history of gender balance and representation throughout its work: not just in each festival line-up, but in our talent programmes, teams, board, and in our approach to making the jazz sector a fairer place to work and enjoy music. We are proud to programme some of the best contemporary female–identifying stars spanning all ages across the jazz industry. View our full lineup here.
Sanem Kalfa