Sinkane

Join GenWex for drinks, complimentary appetizers, and conversation upstairs at Ethyl & Tank, then join the group to catch hometown favorite Sinkane in the Wexner Center Performance Space.

Pre-show event refreshments are sponsored by Milk Bar.

“His music is freeform and fluid, somehow intense yet chilled….it’s jazzy and funky—but jazz-funk it ain't.”—Guardian (UK)

It’s always special to celebrate homegrown success—especially when it’s as danceable and downright funky as this. Plan to be there when Sinkane returns to his home city of Columbus with his four-piece band, touring in support of his upcoming DFA Records release.

Growing up here as Ahmed Gallab, the son of two Sudanese college professors, Sinkane (the name is adapted from Joseph Cinqué, the man who led the Amistad rebellion) developed into a talented multi-instrumentalist. Having absorbed a vast array of inspirations, his skills have illuminated the music of such indie-scene bands as Yeasayer, Caribou, and Of Montreal. Recently Sinkane’s Afro Futurist impulses were tapped when he was enlisted to serve as musical director for Atomic Bomb! The Music of William Onyeabor, a series of special tribute concerts that paid homage to the synth-driven songs of Onyeabor (a visionary African cult artist) and featured the likes of David Byrne, Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip), the Lijadu Sisters, Kele Okereke (Bloc Party), and Money Mark (Beastie Boys).

These sonic adventures and more inform how Sinkane stretches out on his own freewheeling music, which spans future funk, trance rhythms drawn from wah-wah disco, hints of Sudanese and other African musical strains, as well as passages of prog, jazz fusion, and out-rock action. His distinctive sound resists classification, but you’ll know it when you hear it as Sinkane takes the stage in front of his many local fans. The subtly bewitching beats of opener Helado Negro will provide the ideal complement for this evening’s immersion into deep grooviness.

Note: This show is standing room only.