Press room

Songwriter, composer, vocalist, poet, and educator Camae Ayewa aka Moor Mother returns to the Barbican in 2023. Moor Mother last appeared on the Barbican stage alongside the London Contemporary Orchestra in 2019, presenting her orchestral work exploring colonialism and the Commonwealth The Great Bailout and now brings a new concert to the Barbican Hall, performing her latest album Jazz Codes.

Taking free jazz as a starting point, the richly layered Jazz Codes moves between jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop, and other Black classical traditions, illuminating an inherently multidisciplinary collaborative practice. Moor Mother’s second and latest album for Anti-, the record features a roster of far-flung collaborators, including Swedish producer Olof Melander, flutist Nicole Mitchell, harpist Mary Lattimore, singer-songwriter Orion Sun, and celebrated pianist Jason Moran, among others.

Ayewa spent years organising and performing in Philadelphia's underground music community before moving to Los Angeles to teach composition at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. She released Fetish Bones, her debut album under the moniker Moor Mother, in 2016, and has since put out an abundance of acclaimed music, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with other musicians who share her drive to dig up the untold. She has performed and recorded with the free jazz groups such as Irreversible Entanglements and the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Alya Al-Sultani (Vocals)
Dudu Kouate (Percussion)
Farida Amadou (Bass)
Pat Thomas (Percussion)
Elaine Mitchener (Vocals)
Edward Wakili-Hick (Percussion)
Aquiles Navarro (Trumpet)