Makam Salam ft. Mira Awad

About this event

Makam Salam are a London-based collective of Pan-Middle-Eastern diaspora musicians. Across the ensemble sit Palestinian, Israeli, Iranian, Lebanese, Turkish, Kurdish, Tunisian, Moroccan, British and Jewish heritages — and rather than trading solos across those lines, they play each other’s music. Maqam modes and Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish and Kurdish song meet contemporary jazz improvisation, carried on oud, clarinet, violin, keys, drums and percussion. For this EFG London Jazz Festival special, the collective is joined by Mira Awad. A Palestinian-Israeli singer, songwriter and actor born in the Galilee village of Rameh, Awad represented Israel at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest alongside Achinoam Nini — the first Israeli entry to carry Arabic lyrics, and the first sung by an artist of Arab origin. She has performed with Bobby McFerrin, Andrea Bocelli and Quincy Jones, and appeared at Sanremo in 2025. Since forming in 2024, Makam Salam have sold out Stone Nest, PizzaExpress Jazz Club, Next Door Records and The Cockpit, and played Shambala and Soul Revolution festivals. Their February 2026 Jazz In The Round appearance filled the venue and this November they return, as part of EFG London Jazz Festival. The round is the format the music was built for: audience on every side, the ensemble facing inward, and a set that moves between the meditative and the fiercely rhythmic without ever quite settling.