Asha Parkinson is a saxophonist and composer with a passion for cross-cultural dialogue and a heartfelt mission to find “the universal love which connects everything.” Interview for International Women’s Day by Kai Hoffman.

Asha Parkinson is a woman with strong ideals, on a mission to connect cultures through the power of music. A jazz saxophonist, she is forging her own compositional path, blurring boundaries between classical, jazz and world music. From the age of fourteen, Parkinson’s pursuit of the “universal love which connects everything” has seen her creating a wide variety of projects, from the cross-cultural Voices Beyond Division choir to her ‘Encounters’ suite with female Arabian poets. She is currently preparing for her second album release, entitled Possession. 

Originally from Kent, Parkinson grew up in a musical family with a powerful female role model in her mother, an accomplished pianist and music lecturer. Raised with the belief in a holistic musical education, Parkinson was immersed in music from an early age, beginning the piano at age six. She elaborates: “We always listened to a lot of music at home, from Stockhausen to gamelan.” 

At twelve, Parkinson achieved Grade Eight on the piano and the saxophone. As her interest in improvisation began to grow, she joined the National Youth Jazz Collective before eventually auditioning for the Purcell School. “It was at Purcell that I discovered I really loved composition,” she says. “I didn’t think I could become a first-study composer at first, but then I got really into it and discovered my need to translate ideas into notation. Also, I really wanted to compose, because I had this idea that I was going to write a choral piece that would bring together children’s choirs from Islamic, Christian and Jewish backgrounds, alongside a chamber orchestra and Arabic instruments – which became the Voices Beyond Divisions project. Being in the Purcell environment helped focus my ideas into an award-winning project.” Parkinson was a recipient of the Diana Legacy Award for her humanitarian work on Voices Beyond Division. 

After Purcell, Parkinson moved on to study at the Guildhall.  It was here that she founded Kalpadruma (meaning ‘tree of life’), her “mixed ensemble bringing together classical and jazz musicians, where I could write material with elements of improvisation and collaborate with musicians from various world music traditions. Initially, it was Indian specialist musicians, then Arab, Greek and Flamenco. I could absorb other cultures through music; to reach out and create an authentic sound world going beyond those genres.” 

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Graduating from Guildhall during the pandemic, Parkinson went on to become a Jazz South Breakthrough Commission artist. The work she created, ‘Encounters,’ is a cross-cultural collaboration with female Arab poets including Maram Al-Masri as well as Syrian musicians. “‘Encounters’ explores the nature of being a woman in places that are affected by wars,” Parkinson explains.  “I think we all encounter misogyny in different ways across the world. It’s really interesting having dialogues with women who are in different cultures, cultures more influenced by orthodox religion, and seeing how many more limitations there are. There’s a shared female identity which exists in the female peace movements, like the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, connecting women from around the world in pacifist dialogue. In my work, I am always trying to connect to universal love; I find ideas in everything.”

Encouraged from a young age, Parkinson explains: “I grew up with a storyteller as a dad. I find a lot of inspiration from stories and poetry. For example, on the new album, Possession, there are ideas from stories that my dad told me, ideas from Huxley, Tolstoy, Rumi. Ideas that you read and you’re not thinking ‘That’s really fascinating,’  you’re thinking, ‘That really explains a lot!’” She chose Swedish singer Rebecka Edlund to voice the original lyrics on this latest album, describing Edlund as “open-minded and hardworking when it comes to learning my songs, with a real sense of being a holistic musician and singer, with that big personality to get the message across.”  

“The influence of having studied Arabic scales and rhythms has really seeped through into my core compositional voice. One of the tracks on the new album is my setting of the original Aramaic Lord’s Prayer, which I’ve been fascinated with for a long time, as the message is very different from the modern version. There is no gender to God, there’s no sense of sin, it’s more ‘keep us to our true purpose’ instead of ‘daily bread,’ it’s ‘give us wisdom and understanding for our daily needs.’ It felt much more like an equal dialogue, rather than a very submissive message.” 

Alongside performances with Kalpadruma at venues including Ronnie Scott’s, Parkinson is a freelance saxophonist with groups like the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) main band. “I have worked on various ventures including the Hermeto Pascoal project, the Amy Winehouse series and more recently arranging music for NYJO’s Blue Note shows. NYJO is also supporting me in part for the new Kalpadruma album.” 

When asked for her take on International Women’s Day, Parkinson says: “I think it’s really important. It helps to create new role models for young women, demonstrating that there are people they can look up to and see themselves in in male-dominated professions, like being a woman in jazz. Also, I think it’s vital for women to gain recognition as part of the team, not just as a star player, but as an equal member of a group.” 

In her early twenties, Parkinson is a young woman brimming with ideas, and explains that Kalpadruma, with its flexible lineup, would lend itself well to national and international touring. “I would love to collaborate with women across the world, as well as to take these projects into schools, introducing kids to our cross-cultural music and creating tolerance.” 

Asha Parkinson will be releasing Possession with Kalpadruma on Ubuntu Records in July 2024, with support from Help Musicians.

This article is published simultaneously in the following European magazines, as part of an operation to highlight young jazz and blues female musicians: Citizen Jazz (France), JazzMania (Belgium), Jazz’halo (Belgium), London Jazz News (UK), Jazz-Fun (Germany), Giornale della musica (Italia), In&Out Jazz (Spain) and Donos Kulturalny (Poland).

LINKS:

The Complete Archive of LJN’s #IWD profiles since 2011
Asha Parkinson’s website