About
About El Khat
Starting in 2019, El Khat began to hone their sound in garages and warehouses. Through experimenting with DIY homemade instruments as a means to life minimalism philosophy it has led to the three-piece creating an endless collection of Arabic tunes of Yemeni origin.
Detached to a land or to any flag is the driving force behind the group, with the heart of their music and their heritage rooted in Yemen. The constant division that has been created by wars and immigrations have pushed out an identity.
In the midst of these major life changes, Eyal was presented the LP ‘Qat, Coffee & Qambus: Raw 45s from Yemen’ full of Yemeni traditional music. He began learning Arabic. He had also been experimenting with carpentry and building instruments in his work studio, and so as part of this creative process, and this desire for cultural inquiry, he began writing what would be the album you listen to, Saadia Jefferson, using instruments built from whatever materials were available to him, often junk. The poverty and simplicity that exists in Yemen inspired these DIY inventions.
#middleeasterngrooves #arabmusic #diyinstuments
El Khat – Saadia Jefferson is now available via our Bandcamp page
