Ezra Collective - Here Because of Hope

Ezra Collective’s Here Because Of Hope is a sweeping, deeply personal album built around three interconnected movements tracing the journey of Black music across Africa, the Caribbean and London. Formed in London youth clubs, the Mercury Prize and BRIT Award-winning group — Femi Koleoso, TJ Koleoso, Joe Armon-Jones, James Mollison and Ife Ogunjobi — continue to expand their vibrant fusion of jazz, Afrobeat, reggae and soul with renewed purpose and scale. At the centre of the record is a question that runs through generations of Black music: how can sounds shaped by struggle feel so joyful? For Ezra Collective, the answer is hope — a sense of endurance, celebration and possibility carried across borders and communities. Featuring collaborations with Pa Salieu, Lila Iké and Leona Lewis, the album reaches across the wider African diaspora while staying rooted in the communal energy that has defined the band from the start.