El Khat is a band from Tel Aviv, Israel featuring musicians with diverse backgrounds, Iraq, Poland, Morocco, and Yemen. Khat is an addictive leaf that has been chewed socially in Yemen and the Arabic peninsula for over 600 years.
The group is led by Jewish Yemeni Eyal El Wahab. Eyal joined the Jerusalem Andalusian Orchestra in 2012 and performed with them the ancient classical music of North Africa and Europe.
At the end of 2017, Eyal left the Andalusian Orchestra and his flamenco-inspired band El Gran Mar. Eyal desired complete freedom to investigate his Yemenite roots and the culture that he was first exposed to as a boy visiting his Grandparents who moved from Yemen to a Yemenite village in central Israel in the 1950s.
In the midst of these major life changes, Eyal was presented the Dust-to-Digital compilation Qat, Coffee and Qambus: Raw 45s From Yemen LP 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 Saadia Jefferson, using instruments built from whatever materials were available to him, often junk.
Discography:
Saadia Jefferson (Batov Records, 2019)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.