Planet Ears: El Khat

El Khat - a self-proclaimed junkyard band led by multi-instrumentalist Eyal El Wahab. Named after the drug widely used in the Arabian Peninsula, the band performs original compositions inspired by the music of the Golden Era of Aden, Yemen - the "Artistic Renaissance" in the 1970s.
El Wahab plays numerous instruments, including the dli and a kearat that he built himself. He started this a few years ago when he used his skills to make music from discarded objects. As a child of the Yemeni diaspora who grew up in Tel Aviv Jaffa, this is a tradition that goes back to his family's homeland, where even garbage can become an instrument. El Wahab has always been an inventive person. He convinced the Jerusalem Andalusian Orchestra to employ him as a cellist, even though he was self-taught and could not read music. He learned the repertoire by ear and acquired music theory. This gave him a solid foundation, but his world changed when he was given "Qat, Coffee & Qambus: Raw 45s from Yemen", an LP of traditional Yemeni music from the 1960s. It was like a revelation. He left the orchestra, started building instruments and founded El Khat.

PLANET EARS is supported by the Cultural Office of the City of Mannheim