Saxophonist, composer and arranger Asha Parkinson draws on influences from many musical styles and cultures to create her own distinctive body of work. Ahead of the release of Possession, her debut album, Parkinson spoke about her musical development, the creation of the album, her band Kalpadruma, and her plans for the future.
Possession, recorded in September 2023, is credited to Parkinson who founded the 14-piece fusion ensemble Kalpadruma in 2017. The ensemble’s history goes back to the Purcell School, where Parkinson completed sixth-form studies. As she explains: “At the Purcell I started writing music to bring jazz and classical players together in a lineup that was similar to Kalpadruma’s: string quartet, sax, trombone, flute and rhythm section. When I got to the Guildhall, I wanted to write for a large ensemble so I could combine my influences and interests beyond jazz and Western classical music. Initially I wrote music for a 12-piece — string quartet, flute, trumpet, bass clarinet, saxophone, guitar, bass, piano and drums — I had in mind a semi-orchestral vibe with a huge jazz influence. I was also encouraging musicians to work outside their primary traditions, across cultures. At first, it was mainly Indian music that I was reaching out to, collaborating with a bansuri player I’d known since my mid-teens. Since then, I’ve reached out to Arab/Mediterranean traditions as well. They’re both styles of music I’ve always listened to and wanted to understand on a deeper level.”
Kalpadruma’s first gig, at London’s Luna Lounge, was, says Parkinson, “a bit unfortunate. We were delayed going on, the musicians had drunk quite a lot, so the music didn’t really sound that great, and quite a lot of people left at the interval.” Undeterred, Parkinson started gigging with the band’s core quintet of bass, guitar, piano and cajon in addition to her saxophone. The next Kalpadruma performance was at the Guildhall, performing a suite of mixed ensemble music in a concert at Silk Street Music Hall alongside Parkinson’s own saxophone concerto. She continued honing the music during her time at the Guildhall: “I realised what worked and what didn’t, refined my process, composed at the piano and re-wrote some scores.” The best of those compositions appeared on Kalpadruma’s first recording, the EP titled Onwards.
A commission for Jazz South’s Breakthrough, the Encounters suite, about female identity in cultures affected by war, built on Parkinson’s collaborations with Syrian musicians. After graduating, Parkinson found that Kalpadruma’s members had less time to rehearse, but conversely there were more opportunities to perform. There were other changes, too: “We’ve had various personnel come and go. I feel like the specific genre fusion I’m creating has become a lot clearer. At the start Kalpadruma was an ideal, I wanted to create a music that went across genre divisions and encouraged working across cultures. Now, the music has become more defined.”
The addition of the qanun brought another change: “One of the musicians I was playing with was a qanun player. When I got the commission to write Encounters I included the qanun because it gives a really interesting quality, like an electric harp in a way, a really interesting texture. Kostas, who’s now our qanun player, is very open to different musics and helps me to write parts for the instrument. I’ve got a bit addicted to the sound.”
Lyrics are another vital part of Possession, interpreted by singer Rebecka Edlund. Some are Parkinson’s own, others come from sources including the poetry of Rumi (“I Choose to Love You in Silence,” retitled “Distant Devotion”), an Aramaic text of the Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father [Avvon D’Bishmaiya]” and the words of Liberian peace activist Lehmah Gbowee (“Permanent Verse”). “I started setting the Rumi poem in early 2022,” Parkinson says, “I love that poem and wanted to write more about the theme of possession. I wrote the lyrics to the title track after that. At the time I was upset about the end of a relationship and those themes were relevant to me. At Kalpadruma’s debut Ronnie Scott’s concert Martin Hummel (from Ubuntu, Parkinson’s record label) told me he liked the new material, which gave me a reason to write more in that style.”
Parkinson started writing the lyrics to “There” during the first lockdown. “I’ve always liked writing poetry for myself. I wasn’t necessarily thinking of setting those words to music but I could hear the potential of doing so. I found my concentration during lockdown was really bad, so I didn’t have the vision to do so there and then. I wrote the music in late 2022. ‘Mirror Image’ also came in late 2022. I wrote the lyrics during a Christmas holiday in Barcelona. I wrote the music for ‘Our Father’ for a choir when I was at the Guildhall, in 2017 — I was fascinated by the Aramaic text and its translation so I returned to it in spring 2023. By then I’d worked with Rebecka quite a bit and knew her voice would sit well with that sonority, especially with the qanun. I thought, ‘Oh, it’s going to be perfect’. I took time over it; it was the last piece I wrote. Lehmah Gbowee has always been a huge inspiration for me. In an interview she spoke of anger being a really powerful force that can drive you to a greater good. I thought it would be ideal to incorporate the words into ‘Permanent Verse’. That’s something I think has always been behind my own activism, driving my internal anger into something really good — I hope.”
Gareth Lockrane, one of Parkinson’s teachers, completes Kalpadruma’s lineup on Possession, as guest soloist on “Distant Devotion” and “Mirror Image.” It seems that his role as teacher is still ongoing: “Gareth can play over anything; he has this great harmonic and melodic understanding. I transcribed his solos later; it really helped me to see how he’d navigated the chord changes I’d written.”
After Possession is released, Parkinson starts an MA in Composition at Oxford University and in November Kalpadruma play the Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building in Oxford. Parkinson hopes the full 14-piece Kalpadruma can perform every two or three months, with more frequent performances from the quartet, quintet or sextet. She also plans to perform with the smaller ensembles in Europe, to keep writing new material, and to continue to work with female poets — including Maram al-Masri from Syria and the Palestinian poet Dana Dajani, with whom she first collaborated in 2022 — on extending her Encounters suite, which is about female identity in cultures affected by war. Clearly, this exciting young musician has ambitious plans to drive her internal anger into something good.
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Possession will be released on Ubuntu Music on 20 September 2024: the album launch concert will take place on 27 September at Toulouse Lautrec in Kennington. Kalpadruma also play the Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building, St Hilda’s College, Oxford, on 22 November. For more information see ashaparkinsonmusic.co.uk
