El Khat

A homemade junkyard band led by multi-instrumentalist Eyal El Wahab and named for the drug used so widely chewed across the Arab Peninsula. El Khat brings original compositions inspired by the music of the golden age in Aden, Yemen. A child of the Yemeni diaspora who's grown up in Tel Aviv Jaffa, Israel, it's a practice that harks back to the family homeland, where even rubbish can have become an instrument.

Albat Alawi Op.99, El Khat’s new album, released in March 2022 via Glitterbeat Records, celebrates an homage to Faisal Alawi, a popular Yemeni singer who died in 2010, along with an alba, a small tin box that can contain many treasures, while the Op.99 is intended to give the compositions “the same respect as Western classical music.”