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Khamsa Khala is an ethno-industrial musical project that combines our love of middle-eastern music and Moroccan culture with experimental recording methods and deep sound manipulation. We create music that is organic, tangible, visceral and real. Our music embraces the vibrant people, culture and relationships in the mid-east. We are tired of the biased angle that western media shows us, we expose a region that is far more vibrant, magical, and complex than we are led to believe. We are very proud that this music is real - the band crafted the sounds, shot the video and really experienced the Sahara. Plenty of electronic devices are used in addition to authentic middle-eastern instruments, with real tastes and textures in the music. Real location recordings made by the band uncover the actual life, grit and sand. This texture, to us, echoes how we tweaked the knobs on the music to produce our own fractured take on Arabic music.

Neville Harson was a founding member of Mandible Chatter. Don Poe was the noisiest member of Deathpile. Using an experimental approach, they evoke ethnic music that draws from the noisy primitivism of Throbbing Gristle as well as the streets of Morocco.

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خمسة خلا

Five Empty Spaces

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Don Poe traveled to Morocco after learning Arabic. While camping in the Sahara, a Berber tribe drummed and sang in his tent. The nomadic women did something he hadn't seen anywhere else in Morocco - they removed their veils briefly so they could ululate, the high pitched call done by wiggling the tongue side to side. The recordings that were made of this nomadic tribe, as well as other location recordings made throughout Egypt and Morocco, were manipulated into the warped songs on this CD.

Neville Harson's obsession with Morocco was initially inspired by people like Genesis P-Orridge and Paul Bowles. He was amazed when he discovered the psychoacoustic properties of the Gnawa trance music and from there branched out into listening to other Berber and Arabic music. He has spent considerable time in the deserts of the American west, but dream of someday seeing the Sahara. Playing this music with Don on instruments he brought back from Morocco brings Neville a little closer to realizing that dream.

Khamsa Khala has multiple goals: First conceived as a musical outlet for the creative energies that consume both members, the sound has evolved to the point of obsession. Other albums are in the works, from an album of minimal drone and slow sounds, to a radically different album of propulsive Krautrock-inspired rhythmic songs. One genre does not have to be adhered to, allowing the band to reinvent themselves with every recording session. As the concept of Tabula Rasa allows for a clean start, the Arabic meaning of Khamsa Khala is five empty spaces - allowing the band freedom to explore new sounds continually.

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Room With No Walls

(CD or Digital release)

This is the second CD from Khamsa Khala. The world elements are still in the music, but now you will also find a touch more of melody and the damanged animal sounds reduced. Don't you worry, the strange aspects are still embedded in the sound of this music. Released by the excellent Carpe Sonum label.

Room With No Walls

 

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All Rites Reversed

(CD/DVD or Digital release)

The first CD is the Moroccan-inspired CD "All Rites Reversed." Between trips to Egypt and Morocco, Don learned to read and write Arabic. Location recordings, camping in the Sahara, a visit to the public baths or Hammam, staying with families there, and of course a visit with a snake charmer after being painted with Henna inspired the background of this music. Don brought back 20 instruments from these trips to North Africa. Neville is very jealous of this journey!

 

‘All Rites Reversed’ is presented as a CD and DVD package containing a full length CD, plus several music videos shot in Morocco in High Definition with alternate versions of the songs.

Track Listing for All Rites Reversed
A few tracks are available as audio samples:

1. Buried Circle
2. Bahrat
3. Kitab Sirat
4. Gopt
5. Suq
6. Auliya
7. Jannah
8. Athnan
9. A Medina Platform
10. Todra Ghost
10. Eyes of Sorrow; Eyes of Wonder
11. Alam Al Mithal
12. Sayeeda

Get your own copy of the album!

Buy All Rites Reversed at BandCamp,Ear/Rational Music, Apple iTunes store, or directly from the band.

Buy the disc straight from the band to give us the most support $17 in the USA or a bit more for worldwide shipping.

CD/DVD with shipping options:

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Reviews in the press

“Dangling elements of sonic manipulation while copulating with authentic middle-eastern textures and musical elements, Khamsa Khala conjure a musical extraction that one rarely finds.” - Smother.net

“There's a lot to take in here. Exotic music from a completely different sphere.” - Babysue/LMNOP

I never really found a Muslimgauze effort as comprehensive as this one, and often grueling recording weighed against the man. Beautiful object, musically flawless, visually immersive, and above all very beautiful. -Beyond the Noize

The Moroccan elements never feel tokenistic, rather they’re just one ingredient in this bizarre fourth world music. -Cyclicdefrost

The voices and percussion invading "Suq," a song which lacks only the actual odors in the atmosphere of the dusty location, stifling between small alleys where the sound of negotiations of the culture becomes art. -Darkroom Magazine

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A sample of the videos on the All Rites Reversed DVD

"Overview of Khamsa Khala Video" on YouTube


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