“Ajala” By Ezra Collective
Ezra Collective are back with their first new music of 2024 with “Ajala”, the track is now available via Partisan Records (Idles, Cigarettes After Sex). The band have also announce their upcoming tour, they will become the first UK Jazz act to headline London’s OVO Arena Wembley on November 15th.
“Ajala” nods to the nomadic spirit of the infamous Olabisi Ajala, the Ghanaian-Nigerian world adventurer who ambitiously took on touring the world on his scooter, covering 87 countries. Fans will be able to catch the band performing “Ajala” and their wider discography across the year, starting May 11th at the launch of the British Library’s upcoming Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British music exhibition, which sold out in 5 minutes.
Femi Koleoso on “Ajala”:
‘Ajala the Traveller is a journalist from Nigeria whose story is really beautiful. He decided that he wanted to travel the whole world on a moped and what ended up happening was his name became slang in Yoruba.
‘Ajala travel’ is slang for someone that can’t sit still. It’s the way a lot of people would describe me, but for me it’s also what a great drum beat does, it’s what great music does to me, it means I can’t sit still and I just want to move. Ajala is all about that movement.’
2023 was a landmark year for Ezra Collective. In addition to becoming the first ever Jazz act to win the Mercury Prize in its 31-year history for their critically-acclaimed album ‘Where I’m Meant To Be’, they sold out their entire UK/EU/US tour (including 10,000 tickets at both their Hammersmith & Royal Albert Hall headlines), won Best Jazz Act at last year’s MOBO Awards, held one of the most revered sets at Glastonbury, performed at Quincy Jones’ star-studded birthday party.
Ezra Collective 2024 Tour Dates
6-Nov-24 – Birmingham Institute
7-Nov-24 – Leeds Project House
8-Nov-24 – Glasgow Barrowlands
10-Nov-24 – Manchester Apollo
11-Nov-24 – Dublin 3Olympia
13-Nov-24 – Bristol Beacon
15-Nov-24 – London OVO Arena Wembley
Order tickets for Ezra Collective HERE
Latest Reviews
Tracks
Advertisement
Looking for something new to listen to?
Sign up to our all-new newsletter for top-notch reviews, news, videos and playlists.