Huset KBH Musikcaféen

Rådhusstræde 13, 3. sal, Copenhagen K

Tuesday 31 October 2024, 8.00 pm.

Organizer: Huset KBH



World music

El Khat (il/ye)

It creaks and rattles, the screws are loose, but it holds together and moves magnificently. It's the sound of El Khat, an international deconstruction squad from Tel Aviv led by Eyal El Wahab, a son of the Yemeni Jewish diaspora on a mission to recover hi

El Khat (il/ye)

Starting in 2019, El Khat began to hone their sound in garages and warehouses. Through experimenting with DIY homemade instruments as a means to live a minimalist philosophy, the three-piece has created an endless collection of Arabic tunes of Yemeni origin.

Detached from any land or flag, the driving force behind the group is their music and heritage rooted in Yemen. The constant division created by wars and migrations has pushed out an identity.

As undulatingly stimulating as the eponymous plant, El Khat mixes trash and tradition in a timely urban reclamation of a disenfranchised culture.

In the midst of these major life changes, El Khat bandleader, Eyal El Wahab, was presented with the LP 'Qat, Coffee & Qambus: Raw 45s from Yemen' full of traditional Yemeni music. He began learning Arabic. He had also been experimenting with carpentry and building instruments in his work studio. As part of this creative process and his desire for cultural inquiry, he began writing what would become the album Saadia Jefferson, using instruments built from whatever materials were available to him, often junk. The poverty and simplicity that exist in Yemen inspired these DIY inventions.

With two albums behind them and a third to be released in 2024, El Khat is constantly moving, sharing their art globally, mainly in the US and the EU

Entrance fee: 140 dkr / 70 dkr for students

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