Yasmeen Ahmed: The Open Fund for Music Creators
For:
Recording 'Polyhymnia' - A Suite Celebrating Powerful and Inspirational Women
Since releasing Finding My Way Home in 2011, British-Bahraini trumpet player, Yazz Ahmed, has emerged as a distinctive voice on the UK Jazz scene, both as a soloist and composer.
Yazz leads a variety of ensembles which play her Arabic infused jazz compositions, reflecting her mixed heritage. She has performances scheduled for Algeria, Berlin and Bahrain later in 2016. This fusion of Arabic scales and rhythms, with jazz improvisation and harmony, is evident in her 2015 suite, Alhaan al Siduri, inspired by Bahraini folk music, and the current writing for her newly developed quarter-tone flugelhorn, as an LSO Soundhub Composer.
Polyhymnia, which celebrates the achievements of courageous female role-models, Haifaa Al Mansour, Ruby Bridges, Malala Yousafzai, Barbara Thompson, Rosa Parks and the Suffragettes, was commissioned by Tomorrow’s Warriors and PRSF Women Make Music for the WOW! Festival in March 2015. Reactions to the concert, featuring thirteen women musicians from The Nu Civilisation Orchestra, were euphoric and heart-felt.
“When it got to the fourth movement, ‘One Girl Among Many’, about Malala Yousafzai, I had a huge surge of emotion, and felt I was listening to a creation deserving of a far wider audience” – Michele Drees, drummer.
In response to the positive feedback, I want to take this music further, to raise awareness of these heroines and to inspire people to challenge the barriers to achieving their full potential. A professional recording is essential to achieving these aims and thanks to PRSF, I am now able to start this process.