Kosovan singer-songwriter AJO brings her band to West London’s most spectacular setting for the opening night of London Jazz Festival.

AJO is a Kosovo-born, London-based singer-songwriter whose Albanian heritage inspires her unique sound. She draws inspiration from her roots in music and performance, elevating the craft and emotion of traditional folk music into jazz-infused territory.

After filling venues at Rich Mix and Royal Albert Hall in 2021, AJO returns to London to perform her highly-acclaimed EP Besa – her first work in 17 years. The album explores themes such as honour, betrayal, joy, pain, politics as a woman and the Albanian concept of ‘Besa’—an oath of trust passed down the centuries.

The evening is presented by Arts Canteen in collaboration with Grand Junction, as part of the London Jazz Festival.

Band Members

About AJO

AJO is well known for her distinctive voice and recently achieved international success with the release of her latest EP “Besa”, after a long hiatus. The demand for AJO’s live performances has rocketed in the recent years while 2021 saw her perform at some of the world’s most renowned venues such as Royal Albert Hall and Rich Mix in London,where her shows were sold out. She also performed in other venues and festivals such as FemArt, Kino Armata, and Kino Lumbardhi in Kosovo, Oda Theatre, as well as concerts in different countries of Europe.  

She has a unique ability to touch audiences with her own written and composed materials, advocating for Albanian heritage. With her work, she passionately evolves around the culture of her motherland and through music she incorporates the dances, folktales, costumes and traditions of her land – elevating the craft and emotion of traditional folk into the innovative jazz infused territory.  

 AJO moved to London in 2004 to study vocal, music and media management, and eventually settled here to raise four children – which reflects in her most recent work, as motherhood is an important theme in her EP ‘Besa’. 

For AJO It is an excitement to perform this gig for one of the pioneering UK Music scene  EFG London Jazz festival, a chance to bring this special project featuring folk traditional music of Albania and Kosovo into an infused jazz territory for a wider audience of the world in the heart of London.  

London Jazz Festival

The EFG London Jazz Festival is the capital’s biggest pan-city music festival, taking place annually in November, and long acclaimed for showcasing a heady mix of talent from around the globe. Widely acknowledged for delivering world-class artists and emerging stars, the Festival continues to take jazz to a massive audience, in one of UK’s landmark music events. The festival is produced by Serious, one of the UK’s leading producers and curators of live jazz, international and new music.