Ricardo Esway: Guitar
Theo Khoury: Bass, Oud, Tzoura
Larold Will: Drums, Electronics

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​Drawing from the genres of Krautrock, 70s Arabic/Anatolian, post-punk, and spiritual jazz, Descending Pharaohs are a predominantly instrumental trio from Portland, Oregon. Although founded by Palestinian-American Bassist/oudist Theo Khoury (brother of violinist Michael Khoury) in 2019, the band took productive shape as a trio in 2021 with guitarist Ricardo Esway and drummer Larold Will (since replaced with Andreas Levi).

 

With a predominantly instrumental string-driven sound, the band casts an Eastern gaze on creating multi-movement soundscapes. Descending Pharaohs weave improvisation with structure to realize pieces colored by ancient hymn and abstract Arab futurism.

 

As their first release, Ritual of Light marks the band’s 2022 sound. Whether from the visions of a shimmery fever dream or a back-alley fight scene, a common response to their music is to experience something “visually intense”. There are story arcs, characters, dialogues, and complicating actions that bring imagery to mind that would please an audience of Frank Herbert, Mahmood Darwish, and  Aldous Huxley. Looking towards the future, the trio has built in more saz, oud, chimes, baritone guitar, and electronics into their unique sound. 

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Malek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B05oIKkz0Po 

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Although from the same recording session, the two pieces in the Telesterion 7-inch (Telesterion, Guban) present a rock alter-ego for the band and take a different turn from the somber tone of Ritual of Light.

 

Telesterion is a guitar-forward anthem-esque piece that harks to early Savage Republic, but with Esway’s nod to Omar Khorshid and Joe Meek. The flip side of the 7-inch is Guban— a Hungarian minor piece that may cause you take your volume knob into the red, lock arms with whomever is next to you, bend forward and backward, and shift your feet over one another, moving in a circular motion wherever you are. Khoury was channelling Anatolian bass master Ahmet Güvenç and the Kurtalan Ekspres on this one. The 7-inch, with collage work from Khoury, is a limited edition (200 copies) companion that captures a future reflection on 70s Arab electric music.

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​Sgt Minor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j48U5QaDBgs 

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Descending Pharaohs Artist Statement: Our work is inspired by the ongoing struggle for Palestinian human rights against Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestine since 1948. Mirrored by the mixed-media/collage work donning the album covers, the music of Descending Pharaohs animates dreams of triumph against power structures to even out the colonial ledgers of the oppressed. Lyrical without voice, the music weaves fantastical characters, history corrections, and mystical scapes as an attempt to define a new heaviness to sounds that are east of somewhere. It is music defined and driven by Sumud and the reverie to return stolen worlds back to their indigenous key holders.