Idrîsî Ensemble

For this special London Jazz Festival appearance the Idrîsî Ensemble presents a one-off programme exploring bold new terrain and original works that blend ancient sonorities with modern invention.

Pioneering a fresh approach to historical performance, Idrîsî Ensemble draws on period manuscripts, endangered oral traditions, and UNESCO-protected repertoires. They sing the Mediterranean not as a boundary between identities, but as a living archive of exchange, migration, and evolution.

As the UK’s only ensemble specialising in the performance of Old Roman chant, this show is a genre-defying journey through reconstructed medieval modes and rhythmic improvisation, blurring the lines between past and present.

Directed by scholar-musicians with deep roots in medieval literature, music archaeology, and postcolonial historiography.

James Weeks, director of EXAUDI, described their sound as a “total gamechanger” and “not mere escapist nostalgia, but a living, exploratory art of real power.”

Presented by Serious.

This is a 16+ event (under 18s must be accompanied by an adult)