EL KHAT
Eyal El Wahab seer, kearat, vocals
Galor Yefet keyboards
Lotan Yasih drums
It creaks and rattles, the screws are loose, but it holds together and it 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 his roots.
He found his epiphanous mojo in a collection of Yemeni folk and pop records of the 60's, sparking a bout of instrument building from bits of wood, saucepans, wire and rope, and the formation of the band with three friends from Polish, Iraqi and Moroccan backgrounds adding trumpet, guitar, disco-keyboards and hybrid jazz/junk percussion to El Wahab's heartfelt vocals and slippery inventions on his homemade bass.
As undulatingly stimulating as the eponymous plant, El Khat mix trash and tradition in a timely urban reclamation of a disenfranchised culture.
Limited number of advance tickets at Eventbrite $15 …or $20 at the door