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Zara McFarlane

Zara McFarlane first caught the attention of world renowned DJ Gilles Peterson on the release of her self- produced EP in 2010 so much so he released her debut album “Until Tomorrow” (and subsequent albums) on his label Brownswood Recordings in 2011. Her second album “If You Knew Her” (2014) saw her blossom as a lyrically conscious songwriter and set her apart as one to watch on the UK Jazz scene.

Zara’s impact is reflected in being awarded Jazz FM Vocalist of the Year Award (2018 & 2015), Session of the Year at Worldwide Awards (2018), Best Jazz Act at Urban Music Awards (2015) and Best Jazz at MOBO Awards (2014).

Zara has achieved great success with performances with a variety of highly acclaimed musicians such as Hugh Masekela, Gregory Porter, Ernest Ranglin, Shabaka Hutchings, Moses Boyd and Ezra Collective. With a voice that has been described as ‘a caressing voice of sparkling clarity,’ she is in demand as a featured vocalist internationally, collaborating with esteemed producers Louie Vega, Swindle, Floating Points, Osunlade and most recently Dennis Bovell.

Zara’s experience in songwriting, and Jazz and Popular Music vocal styles, has seen her invited to deliver masterclasses at prestigious music establishments such as RWCMD, GSMD and BIMM and within local communities. This also led her to being invited as a judge on the nationally televised 2018 BBC Young Jazz Musician Awards.

Eager to explore all avenues as a performer and vocalist, Zara has also worked in theatre completing her debut season with the Royal Shakespeare Company as the featured singer in ‘Anthony and Cleopatra,’ directed by Iqbal Khan with music written by Laura Mvula in 2017. In 2019, Zara featured in the community opera ‘Agreed’which premiered on Glyndebourne’s main stage and will return to the RSC in 2020 to perform in The Comedy Of Errors for their Winter season.

Zara McFarlane has previously been supported by PRSF Women Make Music, Momentum Fund and International Fund and The Jerwood Charitable Foundation.

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8
Album Review

Nicola Conte: Umoja

Read "Umoja" reviewed by Chris May


Nicola Conte continues on his journey from acid-jazz bohemian to spiritual-jazz sophisticate with this immaculately hip album, fronted on half of its tracks by London-based soul-jazz divas Zara McFarlane and Bridgette Amofah. Conte began his trajectory with the acid-jazz template Jet Sounds (Schema, 2000), boosted it with Jet Sounds Revisited (Schema, 2002) and, after a brief post-hard-bop detour with Other Directions (Blue Note, 2004), began the spiritual-jazz ascent which has in 2023 reached its new, lofty apogee with ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Women in Jazz: Fabulous Singing, Part 1

Read "Women in Jazz: Fabulous Singing, Part 1" reviewed by Russell Perry


The past decade has been a great one for lovers of jazz singing with most of the exciting music coming from women vocalists. In this hour and the next of Jazz at 100 Today! we'll survey 20 releases from 15 female vocalists who range from the rediscovered vintage jazz of Catherine Russell to the powerful hybrid music of newcomer Zara McFarlane. We are celebrating Women's History Month on Jazz at 100 Today! Playlist Host Intro 0:00 Sara Gazarek ...

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Catching Up With

Zara McFarlane: ritmi e lingue ancestrali

Read "Zara McFarlane: ritmi e lingue ancestrali" reviewed by Serena Antinucci


Songs of an Unknown Tongue (Brownswood Recordings) è il quarto album della pluripremiata cantante inglese Zara McFarlane. A tre anni dal precedente Arise (Brownswood, 2017), la cantante compie un'operazione più personale, di ricerca approfondita delle sue radici musicali e culturali. Dopo un viaggio alla ricerca delle sue radici in Giamaica, McFarlane apre il jazz alle influenze della tradizione caraibica, ai ritmi ancestrali che dialogano con suoni e beat contemporanei, in una rete che si intensifica passaggio dopo passaggio. Il successo ...

9
Catching Up With

Zara McFarlane: Ancestral Tongues

Read "Zara McFarlane: Ancestral Tongues" reviewed by Serena Antinucci


Songs of An Unknown Tongue is the fourth album by multi-award winning English singer Zara Mcfarlane, released on July 17 on Brownswood Recordings. Three years on from Arise!, also on the Brownswood label, the singer performs a more personal, in-depth exploration of her musical and cultural roots. After a journey in Jamaica, her ancestral motherland, McFarlane opens jazz to the influences of the Caribbean tradition, to ancient rhythms that dialogue with contemporary sounds and beats, in a network that intensifies ...

11
Album Review

Zara McFarlane: Songs Of An Unknown Tongue

Read "Songs Of An Unknown Tongue" reviewed by Chris May


It takes courage for a musician to depart from a successful recipe to the extent that the British singer and songwriter Zara McFarlane does on Songs of An Unknown Tongue. The disc is not a complete shift from the paradigm of her three previous albums, but it is a radical spin on it. First, what has changed. McFarlane's last album, Arise (Brownswood, 2017) was, like its predecessors, an acoustic set played by a band drawn from McFarlane's ...

9
Album Review

Zara McFarlane: East Of The River Nile

Read "East Of The River Nile" reviewed by Chris May


As a teaser for her upcoming album, the divine Zara McFarlane has released a 4-track EP revisiting Jamaican dub and rockers wizard Augustus Pablo's canonical 1977 single “East Of The River Nile." McFarlane's disc, on which her wordless vocals stay close to Pablo's original melodica topline, showcases her signature blend of jazz and Caribbean music to transporting and trippy effect (pass the chalice, folks). The track is produced by McFarlane's longtime drummer and collaborator Moses Boyd and arranged by trombonist ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Zara McFarlane Live at BIMHUIS Amsterdam

Read "Zara McFarlane Live at BIMHUIS Amsterdam" reviewed by BIMHUIS


Zara McFarlane is one of the most remarkable rising stars in British soul jazz. The singer from London, who was raised in a Jamaican family, has been compared to Erykah Badu and Cassandra Wilson. She has a pure voice and a unique, contemporary style combining soul, jazz, dub and afro-funk. The intimate vocals of Nina Simone and the enchanting seventies-jazz of Pharoah Sanders are important influences on Zara's songs. On her most recent album, Arise, Zara ...

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Performance / Tour

Jamaican-British Soul-Jazz Chanteuse Zara McFarlane Makes Debut U.S. Tour In Support Of "If You Knew Her"

Jamaican-British Soul-Jazz Chanteuse Zara McFarlane Makes Debut U.S. Tour In Support Of "If You Knew Her"

Source: Matt Merewitz

If You Knew Her, Released in Early 2014 on Peterson’s Soul-Inflected Brownswood Recordings Is Already One of 2014′s Most Acclaimed Recordings It’s a tough task for music critics to write about a singer that genuinely knocks their socks off. Zara McFarlane is the London based singer, who, in 2011 released Until Tomorrow, a debut album that had many critics in a spin. Sure, praise came thick and fast. They spoke of a caressing voice of sparkling clarity, a voice that ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Umoja

Far Out Recordings
2023

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Songs Of An Unknown...

Brownswood Recordings
2020

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East Of The River Nile

Brownswood Recordings
2019

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Arise

Brownswood Recordings
2017

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Arise!

Brownswood Recordings
2017

buy

If You Knew Her

Brownswood Recordings
2014

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