Ahmed Gallab has found a musical home in his band, Sinkane
By Charlie Weinmann
Taking things easy doesn’t come naturally to Ahmed Gallab. When The Sound caught up with the musician by phone on a recent Tuesday morning, he was back in New York City after a gig in Toronto the previous night. It was supposed to be his day off, but for Gallab, a day off usually involves working.
“I’m doing some recording today,” he said.
The singer and multi-instrumentalist has lived everywhere from Utah to Boston to Sudan and has played with electronic bands like London’s Caribou and indie rock bands like Of Montreal. It’s hard to call any place or any band home, Gallab said, though his latest musical project, Sinkane, might be close. Gallab brings Sinkane to The Music Hall Loft in Portsmouth on Saturday, Feb. 21, just before he and the band leave for a European tour in March.
“I love to tour. I could do it every single day,” said Gallab, who lives in Brooklyn. “But as I get older and I am away from home … not establishing any kind of home in Brooklyn is tough. The older you get, you start to need an anchor. You need a sanctuary.”
Sinkane has been that sort of sanctuary for Gallab. The band blends free jazz, funk, R&B, and electronic music into something wholly unique — imagine an ambient Stevie Wonder jamming with Herbie Hancock, all with a fat, Jack White-style bass line to drive the bus.
“I still play a lot of the instruments (in studio), but I’m playing with these guys who are so talented and make the music so much better.”
— Ahmed Gallab of Sinkane
It’s a style that Gallab has been slowly crafting ever since he played his first gig at the age of 11. His professional roots go back to Caribou — when the band’s drummer broke his wrist, Gallab filled in on tour for two months. A short time later, in 2008, he moved to Brooklyn and immersed himself in the neighborhood’s music scene.
“I found myself in an arena of music that I looked up to and appreciated,” Gallab said. “I’m really happy I did that. I could take all the knowledge I had from playing in other bands and put it into Sinkane.”
Those bands include Of Montreal, Born Ruffians, and Yeasayer. Gallab was a “hired gun,” he said, and the experience helped him develop a vision for Sinkane.
“I put (Sinkane) on the back burner so I could get an understanding of how they did everything,” he said of his time with bands like Caribou and Yeasayer. “I wanted to enjoy myself in the culture.”
Gallab originally conceived Sinkane as a solo project for himself, but it’s evolved into a full band. Instead of only Gallab with a guitar and a keyboard, there are guitars, a bassist, a drummer and a few background vocalists.
“I still play a lot of the instruments (in studio), but I’m playing with these guys who are so talented and make the music so much better,” Gallab said. “Even though it’s my project I want them to feel they can own it in some shape or form. It beats just a laptop and a guitar.”
Ahmed Gallab playing guitar on stage.
Now, with his first major tour as a solo artist underway, Gallab said his experiences in the studio and on the road with other bands have helped him mature as an artist.
“I learned how to be a leader,” Gallab said. “A band leader and a team leader. It’s important to keep everyone happy and to be productive.”
When Gallab isn’t performing with Sinkane, he said he still looks for opportunities to collaborate with other musicians.
“I write songs with someone else to get out of my comfort zone. It allows me to hear music from a different perspective,” Gallab said. “I can expand my horizons.”
Gallab has released four LPs and several EPs as Sinkane. In May 2014, he was musical director for “Atomic Bomb! The Music of William Onyeabor,” a two-day music festival that celebrated the Nigerian funk musician, who Gallab counts among his musical influences. In a 2014 interview with African music website Okay Africa, Gallab said, “I first heard William Onyeabor’s music on Luaka Bop’s ‘World Psychedelic Classics Vol. 3: Love Is a Real Thing’ compilation. I had just finished university and was starting Sinkane. That compilation really inspired the vision of Sinkane.”
Gallab said Sinkane will tour through the summer and then might begin work on a new album. For now, he is just “focused on being on the road,” he said.
“It’s really hard to enjoy yourself when you’re in the thick of it because you’re trying to get to the next place and trying for success,” Gallab said. “It’s been fun, though, learning how I want to live when I come home.”
Sinkane performs at The Music Hall Loft, 131 Congress St., Portsmouth, on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $16 and are available at the box office (28 Chestnut St.) or online at themusichall.org.