World Music Institute Presents El Khat

World Music Institute and National Sawdust co-present El Khat – a homemade found-sounds band led by multi-instrumentalist Eyal El Wahab. Named for the popular chew that is widely used across the Arab Peninsula, the band performs original compositions inspired by the music of the Golden Age in Aden, Yemen.

El Wahab plays many instruments like the dli and the Kearat that he constructed himself. Using his skills to make music from the items people discard is something he started doing several years ago. 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 become an instrument.