WESTERN FRONT – Alkebulan: Beyond Drexciya

Description:

Alkebulan: Beyond Drexciya was a concert by artist-in-residence Angel Bat Dawid with DeForrest Brown, Jr. Together, the musicians presented a mythic voyage through collapsing space and time, guiding audiences into a cosmic gateway rooted in Black mythos and ancestral memory.

Improvising on electronics and clarinet, Dawid and Brown traversed sonically across multidimensional realities, to reclaim Alkebulan as the true cradle of Black civilization—a portal to metasymmetrical futures beyond physical dimension, where history, myth, and the future converge in sacred space.

Presented with support from the Government of Canada and the the SOCAN Foundation.

Video documentation is available upon request.

Two long tables fully loaded with organized tech gear are bathed in red glowing light.

Artist Angel Bat Dawid is seated in front of a computer. Red overhead lighting illuminates her patterned clothing. She wears large frame glasses and chunky beads in her hair. One of her hands is raised gesturally.

Artists Angel Bat Dawid and DeForrest Brown, Jr. sit beside each other at a cloth covered table. Angel Bat Dawid holds a cup and makes eye contact with DeForrest Brown, Jr. He presses his palms to his face and smiles bashfully. In front of them is a computer, various cords, and a clarinet.

Bathed in warm red light, Angel Bat Dawid hunches forward pressing buttons on the computer in front of her. In her other hand she holds a usb. Beside her, DeForrest Brown, Jr. sits with his eyes closed.

Angel Bat Dawid looks downward at the laptop in front of her. She holds a usb in one hand while with the other she scrolls the keypad of the computer. A scarf is draped over her head, framing her focused face.

Captions:

Angel Bat Dawid and DeForrest Brown, Jr., Alkebulan: Beyond Drexciya, photo documentation, Dec 12, 2025. Photo by Simone Chnarakis.
Angel Bat Dawid at Western Front, photo documentation, Dec 12, 2025. Photo by Simone Chnarakis.
Angel Bat Dawid and DeForrest Brown, Jr. at Western Front, photo documentation, Dec 12, 2025. Photo by Simone Chnarakis.
Angel Bat Dawid and DeForrest Brown, Jr. at Western Front, photo documentation, Dec 12, 2025. Photo by Simone Chnarakis.
Angel Bat Dawid at Western Front, photo documentation, Dec 12, 2025. Photo by Simone Chnarakis.
DeForrest Brown, Jr. at Western Front, photo documentation, Dec 12, 2025. Photo by Simone Chnarakis.
Angel Bat Dawid and DeForrest Brown, Jr. at Western Front, photo documentation, Dec 12, 2025. Photo by Simone Chnarakis.
Angel Bat Dawid at Western Front, photo documentation, Dec 12, 2025. Photo by Simone Chnarakis.

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Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.