Ak’chamel, The Giver of Illness + Julius Masri (Mephisto Halabi set) & Derek Monypeny

Ak’chamel, The Giver of Illness:

Ak’chamel, The Giver of Illness is an enigmatic trio from a border state. Fourth World Post-Colonial Cultural Cannibalists Circumcising The Foreskin of Enlightenment.Performing in homemade costumes and masks, they have played festivals in various cities around the U.S gaining international attention from Vice, The Wire, Tiny Mix Tapes, Consequence of Sound, and many more.

They have been known by many names: Ak’chamel The Giver of Illness, The Bandylegged Riders of the Ill-Promised Sun, The Crazed and Sunchalked Bones of the Vanished Herds etc… Honed and expanded through their travels, Ak’chamel’s singular sound comprising desert-scorched psychedelia, post-apocalyptic shamanism, and bizarre ritual folk is as unique as the physical theater of their otherworldly live performances.

Performing in homespun costumes and masks, with self-made instruments, they have played festivals in various cities around the U.S gaining international attention from Vice, The Wire, Tiny Mix Tapes, Consequence of Sound, and many more. They have amassed over 10 cassette albums and 1 VHS full length film, but their music reached a wider audience through two excellent LPs released on the french label Akuphone: “The Totemist” (2020) – which was recorded in a ghost town in Chihuahuan desert in far West Texas – and “A Mournful Kingdom of Sand” (2023) which – according to the band – is “a perfect soundtrack for the desertification of our world”. Their third album, “Rawskulled”,was released in 2024.

Julius Masri ( Mephisto Halabi set):

Julius Masri is a Philadelphia based multi instrumentalist, and performer/composer for the city's dance community at large. His music focuses on improvisatory methods and syncretic / linguistic exchanges within various musical languages including Jazz, Metal, AfroCuban, Experimental Noise, and Arabic music. Born in Tripoli, Lebanon, he moved to the States in 1990 and picked up drumming a year later. He studied with Philadelphia instructors Carl Mottola, Elaine Hoffman-Watts, and as an undergraduate at Bard College, with AACM's Thurman Barker, Richard Teitelbaum, and Joan Tower. Julius plays drums, circuit modified Casio keyboards, Oud, Kamancheh (aka Rabab, Spike Fiddle), and various other instruments. He currently performs in groups such as grind/crust metal band Night Raids, free jazz groups Sirius Juju and Dromedaries, trombone and synth duo Superlith, and more. He has performed with Henry Grimes, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Thurman Barker and members of the Sun Ra Arkestra. Julius is a recipient of a 2022 Yaddo Fellowship for composition, the 2022 university of the arts creative research and innovation grant, and project funding via pew center for arts & heritage, as well as Swarthmore college and the Andrew W. Mellon foundation.

Derek Monypenny:

Born in the Arizona desert, a veteran of multiple explorations into the Sahara desert via Morocco and Western Sahara, and now a resident of the Mojave, Derek Monypeny sees his musical mission as adding to and expanding on what he calls the "desert continuum;" the psychedelic sirocco swirl of desert-based stringed instruments played with utter abandon by musicians the world over.

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