Since the release of her 2011 debut album, Finding My Way Home, British Bahraini trumpeter Yazz Ahmed has been exploring her heritage through jazz improvisation. Using Arabic quarter-tone scales with guitar, horns and traditional percussion such as the darbuka drum, Ahmed’s music is a fiery blend of instinctive soloing with melodic lyricism. While 2019’s Polyhymnia took inspiration from formidable women such as Saudi Arabian film-maker Haifaa al-Mansour, Ahmed’s fourth album turns towards folk traditions to produce 10 tracks of atmospheric intensity.
Drawing on the polyrhythmic Arab sea-music fijiri and wedding poetry, the album marks the first time Ahmed has collaborated with other singers. On opener She Stands on the Shore, vocalist Natacha Atlas’s warm tenor interweaves seamlessly with Ahmed’s plaintive trumpet melody, swelling over bowed bass to evoke the undulating waves, while Randolph Matthews’ lower register on To the Lonely Sea artfully embodies an eerie sense of hard winds and crashing waves.
Some features are less effective, with the droning bass of Though My Eyes Go to Sleep, My Heart Does Not Forget You jarring against Alba Nacinovich’s keening melody, and the group vocalisations of Al Naddaha struggling to be heard amid Ahmed’s doubling trumpet lines. Instead, Ahmed excels when her compositions play fast and free. The fierce polyrhythms of wedding song Her Light spiral into an ecstatic dance, while the joyous Into the Night features Ahmed’s extended family performing traditional ululations and hand-clapping to continue the sense of celebration.
The 10-minute title track is another highlight. Pearl-diving music is an a cappella vocal tradition for guiding ship workers by blending rhythmic droning with high-register melody, and Ahmed uses a processed sample of one such performance to build a vamping groove alongside bass clarinettist George Crowley’s expressive solo and percussionist Corrina Silvester’s extended darbuka break. The effect is infectiously jubilant, drawing the listener into Ahmed’s distinct and modern imagining of Bahraini tradition.
• Released on 28 February.
Also out this month
Reunion Island producer Jako Maron’s latest album, Mahavélouz (Nyege Nyege Tapes) is a thumping techno odyssey centred on the country’s stringed bobre instrument. Blending processed kick drums with the bobre’s harsh twang, tracks like Zésprimaron are invigoratingly loud, channelling the raw chaos of 90s rave-era Prodigy. Korean instrumentalist Park Jiha continues her exploration of traditional instruments such as the piri and saenghwang to produce expansive ambient soundscapes on All Living Things (Glitterbeat). Showcasing a more intricate compositional style, heavily layered tracks like Grounding and A Story of Little Birds are beautifully enveloping. Folk guitarist Piers Faccini and kora player Ballaké Sissoko release their debut album Our Calling (No Format!), highlighting the perfect tonal blend of both stringed instruments and their vocal harmonies to produce soft, lilting tracks celebrating the natural world.
