Khalab is Raffaele Costantino, radio host for RAI Radio 2 (Musicalbox is among the longest-running programs of Radio Rai's schedule), author, consultant, musician and producer, researcher, music divulger, cultural agitator. With his work, he promotes black music of African-American origin, its infinite contaminations, influences and declinations.
Khalab’s music evolution is a seamless journey – from the most ancestral tribes to the unexplored cosmos; from jungle to skyscrapers; from the remotest subconscious to the furthest and real projection of future Africa
He has collaborated and regularly collaborates with internationally renowned artists such as the Malian griot Baba Sissoko (Khalab & Baba - "Track of The Year" at the 2015 Worldwide Awards in London), contemporary icons of the new European jazz scene such as Moses Boyd and Shabaka Hutchings, the American poet Tenesha The Wordsmith, the Spanish dancer and choreographer Rocío Molina.
His music is constantly boosted by some of the most influential broadcasters of BBC Radio (Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft, Mary Anne Hobbs) and other important international radio such as NTS, Worldwide FM, KEXP. His new releases are always supported and reviewed by the most important magazines in the music industry such as Songlines, Mojo, The Wire, Okayplayer, The Quietus, and also by generalist ones such as Financial Times, The Guardian, Il Sole 24 Ore, and Internazionale.
BLACK NOISE 2084 (LP, 2018) - On The Corner Rec.
Based on studies and research carried out in the Royal Museum for Central Africa archives in Brussels, Black Noise 2084, is a concept album that evokes a futuristic Afro-centric soundscape. Acclaimed by international critics, it was one of the records of the year for many media in the industry. With three sold-out reissues, BN2084 is nowadays considered one of the essential albums of contemporary jazz.
M'BERRA (LP, 2021) - Real World Rec.
M'berra, released in March 2021 for Peter Gabriel's Real World Records, is the result of a journey to Mauritania: in 2017 Khalab was invited by the Italian NGO Intersos to visit the refugee camp of M'berra on the border with Mali, to get to know the vast community of Tuareg musicians that live there. After many sessions of sound and voices recordings on the field during his staying there, Khalab reworked and synthesized all the material in his Rome studio and turned it into an album that is an immersive journey between docu-fiction attitude and personal truths. An international success, ready for reissue.
"M’berra is stories within stories: of individual lives upended and reconfigured. Of a small but thriving music scene in an ephemeral metropolis. Of a humanitarian organization that not only aids but enables. Of an Italian producer tasked with creating a project that unites, transports and heals. Of the essential nature of music." - Jane Cornwell
Watch 'Curfew' video clip ↓
THE GREAT OXIDATION (EP, 2021) - Hyperjazz Rec.
Khalab's brand new release (for his own Hyperjazz Records) is The Great Oxidation. Three instrumental tracks drive the listener on a backward journey, down to rediscover the most ancestral human ritual: to dance. A return to the origin in a radical way to reach a brighter future, but also a bridge for another world - a new space where meet new life forms and uncover new feelings and new consciousness.
With a consolidated international reputation, the Khalab project has a versatility that allows itself to be able to tread important stages in the jazz world as well as those oriented to contemporary electronic music. Among the many performances around Europe, there are those at Glastonbury Festival and Shambala Festival (UK), Worldwide Festival (FR), Serralves Em Festa (PT), the Jaiyede Festival (DK), Donau Festival (AT). In Italy, he regularly performs in the most important festivals of the contemporary music and art scene such as Locus Festival, Jazz: Re: Found, Robot, Fat Fat Fat Festival.
The most traditional sound of Africa, the Afro-American music evolutions, and the research in the electronic field merged with dark, shamanic, and groovy sounds; those are the key elements of Khalab's music philosophy
Projected onto the future - and constantly supported by great artists like Gilles Peterson, Laurent Garnier, Bonobo, Matthew Dear, Ben UFO, and DJ Tennis - Khalab continues his research into new formulas, keeping the focus on a very personal sound that has made him one of the most conscious interpreters of its kind.
KHALAB PLAYS BLACK SAINT AND SOUL NOTE (DJ SET)
To celebrate the birth of the HYPERITUALS compilations series for his own Hyperjazz Records, Khalab is available to play DJ SET focused on the catalogue of two Italian seminal jazz labels: Black Saint and Soul Note
Available also for "standard" electronic/afro-centric music selections