EU Fall Tour with Elder Ones and Angel Deradoorian

Hello friends, family and comrades,

Fall is in the air and I’m about to hit the road in Europe! First, my deep homie Angel Deradoorian and I will play a few duo shows. We are a drone project that is whatever the opposite of spiritual bypass is, going deep into the darkness of the material world to process, transform and work towards justice and light. It’s going to a be a deep one and we will speak primarily in Simpsons references that no one will understand! I’m also excited to make my debut in Hungary, where I’ll try to gather some intel on how to overthrow a despot.

As always, I’m extremely psyched to be back at it with Elder Ones, playing material from our forthcoming record All Empires Fall (2027) joined by Nick Dunston, pinch hitting for Lester St. Louis! Nick plays on our 2019 record From Untruth and it’s so nice to have him back in the fold. He’s an absolute beast, so this special line-up with him, Matt Nelson, Alfredo Colon and Jason Nazary is not to be missed!

I’ve been thrown a bit of a curveball before this tour as I grapple with tendinitis. It’s making me think a lot about disability and the unrelenting grind of capitalism. Our bodies create value through their productive capacity, and sometimes we are made to feel that is all they are good for. But they have intrinsic value, which I’m trying to remember and take care of my body by respecting its limits. As an improviser, I will roll with the punches, and if the body says “no” you might see some interesting arrangements! Power to all workers dealing with disability and all workers crushed under this system!

Amirtha Kidambi & Angel Deradoorian:

30th Sept - ALICE, Copenhagen, DK
2nd Oct - UH Fest, Budapest, HU
4th Oct - Fundacja Palma, Gdańsk, PL

Elder Ones:

6th Oct - Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, FR
7th Oct - Atlantique Jazz Festival, Brest, FR
8th Oct - Bozar, Brussels, BE
9th Oct - Bimhuis & Space is the Place Festival, Amsterdam, NL
13th Oct - Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana, SI
14th Oct - Le Petit Faucheux, Tours, FR
16th Oct - Fonomo Festival, Bydgoszcz, PL

I’ll stay for a bit to teach in the Netherlands after the tour and hang for a couple days in London. Hope to see you out there!

Solidarity,

Amirtha

Outernational Episode 9: MPeach

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Substack

Hello friends and comrades!

After a bit of a summer hiatus, we’re back with a fresh episode of Outernational, this time with artist, DJ, electronic musician and Venezuelan-New Yorker MPeach. MPeach aka Mariana Martín Capriles has been actively fundraising in the aftermath of dual massive 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes on June 24th. We talked about Mariana’s unique career as a diaspora artist who has prioritized returning regularly to the homeland to collaborate and perform, striving to build a bridge and maintain connections, especially with Afro-Diasporic artists and traditions. Mariana’s story also exists within a complicated historical and political context, one that is often over simplified. The nation was already in a fragile state following a U.S. invasion in January and the kidnapping of President Maduro. Now under the occupation of the U.S. military with a budget managed by little Marco Rubio who fancies himself a colonial viceroy, the government of Delcy Rodríguez is making massive deals with U.S. corporations to sell off Venezuela’s most valuable resource of oil to the highest bidder. There is no doubt this deal with enrich the elites of both the U.S. and Venezuela, leaving the people impoverished.

As anti-imperialists with a commitment to human rights from each of our positionalities – me as leftist “United Statesian’ and citizen of the imperial core and her in the Venezuelan diaspora, a working artist on the left/anarchist spectrum, we acknowledged that each of our commitments requires something different of us. We both believe that first and foremost, solidarity with the working people of the world is our priority. This is a difficult but necessary conversation that often gets flattened into dehumanizing binaries, with people talking over each other. I immensely appreciated Mariana’s willingness to share her experience and have this conversation.

How do we square these commitments that can be made to feel like contradictions? What does real solidarity with the working people of the world look like? While we can’t simply listen to any one Venezuelan as they’re not a monolith, it feels crucial to at least have conversations with those we claim to be in solidarity with and align on values. The organizers, the trade unionists, the working people, including artists. We make the attempt here for understanding in the context of Mariana’s own story, towards principled solidarity.

It’s a great conversation with a lot of depth and I hope you’re able to listen and share with an open mind!

To support earthquake relief efforts, you can attend the Artists United for Venezuela Fundraiser in NYC on September 10th at Chocolate Factory, or donate to the many mutual aid links below!

Solidarity,

Amirtha

Chocolate Factory Fundraiser, Sept 10

Fundraising Links for Venezuela Earthquake relief:

Direct Mutual Aid Fundraiser by Mariana:
https://gofund.me/d163ced6a

HOGAR BAMBI Organization Fundraising for displaced children

https://bambifoundation.org

IMPAKTEMOS
https://gofund.me/a352153f8

FUNDANA
https://www.fundana.org

Fundraiser for Neighbors Impacted by ICE

Hey all!

Just dropping a quick note to say that we’re having another fundraiser to support our neighbors tomorrow, Tuesday July 7th at Mama Tried, kicking off at 7pm sharp!

There will be music and comedy, with the hilarious Esther Fallick and music by the trio of gabby fluke-mogul/Tcheser Holmes/Shahzad Ismaily, quartet of Bakudi Scream (Rohan Chander)/Scott Li/Kaiwei Chang/ELYAI and solo guitar set by Alana Amore Colvin.

It’ll be in the backyard for optimal summer vibes. It’s a great neighborhood bar if you don’t know it!

$20 suggested / no popo

Funds go to Stand with South Brooklyn fund for legal and commissary support via Mixteca and a car service fund for folks who are worried to go to work by transit, walking or biking. You can donate and share this link if you can’t make it!

Solidaridad,

Amirtha

Chicago this weekend with Neti-Neti and friends!

Hello friends and comrades!

Greetings from Mamdanistan where we have not only clinched an NBA championship with the Knicks, the most endearing team in the league lead by the big hearted, fast thinking Jalen Brunson, we have just elected to send socialists Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier to Congress, along with a massive slate of socialist candidates to our State Assembly. We have also DEFEATED Dan Goldman, the AIPAC shill in NY-10 (my own district) who we have been desperate to ditch since he was elected in a fluke. We’re happy to have Brad Lander, a softer and more pliable Jewish dad who seems to be on a genuine journey towards anti-Zionism, even if he still has some deeply held attachments which prevented him from endorsing the BDS vote at Park Slope Food Co-Op. I trust his constituents and comrades will get him there. But I digress…

I’m excited to bring my obnoxious and ecstatic New Yorker energy to Chicago for some special shows!

On Friday, I’m honored that the prolific writer Levi Dayan (author of this legendary piece on Elder Ones in The Quietus) organized a show for us on Friday at Marmalade Preserve (Bill Harris and Ishmael Ali’s studio), where I’ll play duo with turntablist Allen Moore. Levi will step into the performer role as well in a duo with Sarah Lutkenhaus.

The main reason for this visit is a very special invitation from Experimental Sound Studio to play their Option series on Sunday with Neti-Neti, my duo with percussionist Matt Evans. As usual, we’ll be exercising our personal and collective grief. Despite the joy radiating from NYC, our neighbors are still being kidnapped and dying in detention, and people in Gaza, Lebanon and the Sudan are still being slaughtered. Activists are being charged with 50-100 year prison sentences and whatever is left of this already flawed democracy is slipping away. At the same time, we all still deal with personal grief that is no less important to hold space for. This project and these sets have always been a way for us to process communally in real time, a practice that is so universal around the world but is starkly absent in American culture. Grief is not to be held by one person alone, but a community. We are honored to be able to bring this project to the community in Chicago.

Details below and hope to see some of our Chicago friends there!

Solidarity forever, Happy Pride, Knicks in 5, Socialism is alive!

Amirtha

Chicago

Friday 6/26 8:30pm - Duo with Allen Moore + Levi Dayan/Sarah Lutkenhaus at Marmalade Preserve DM @theshapeofdadstocome on IG for the address

Sunday 6/28, 3pm - Neti- Neti at Experimental Sound Studio (5925 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago)

Outernational Episode 8: Samora Pinderhughes

Hello friends and comrades!

We’re back with a mini episode of Outernational after a short hiatus. This is a special live episode with the brilliant pianist, composer and multidisciplinary artist Samora Pinderhughes, from the Press Play fair at Pioneer Works back in December 2025. We talked about what it means to be an abolitionist, his work collaborating with incarcerated folks through his organization the Healing Project and how art can help people process the horrors of the prison industrial complex. It was short and sweet, but packs a powerful punch.

In the intro you’ll hear me mention raise the concern of the Suno AI funding the Press Play fair and Pioneer Works working with Suno to host AI workshops. Suno notoriously and shamelessly data mines the intellectual and creative property of musicians, with no credit or compensation and makes generative AI “tools” which will eventually lead to the obsolescence of many forms of creative musical labor. The CEO of Suno AI infamously said people "don't enjoy" making music. Gross.

I was happy to hear that Pioneer Works will no longer be working with Suno AI, I hope in some small part to the attention many artists including Samora and I brought to the issue.

If you didn’t catch the last episode with Alsarah, it’s a great one discussing her story and identity as a Sudanese refugee and the history and current genocide in Sudan. She talked about how “refugee” is the identity of the future and offers some wisdom on how one might thing about home in these changing circumstances. She’s also funny as hell.

Catch up on all episodes during your hopefully more relaxed summer! We’ll be back with more new ones as the season rolls along.

Solidarity and Knicks in 5!

Amirtha

Spring Shows + Supporting Neighbors

Hello dear comrades,

I hope you all are weathering the daily storm with a rooted network of community support. In that spirit, we’re continuing our efforts to support our neighbors impacted by ICE detention with another benefit concert at Sisters. At the last one, we raised over $1k for legal and commissary funds via Mixteca org (which you can support any time). We’re hopeful for another good haul and some added support for car services for workers who fear commuting to and from their jobs. It’s up to us to keep each other safe. This time, Elder Ones will be anchoring the bill along with the homies DoYeon Kim, Alex Zhang Hungtai (in town for a limited time only!) and Kwami Winfield. It’s gonna be a great one.

This weekend I’ll be in Boston for Waterworks Festival of Experimental Sound, in a special collaboration with the incredibly deep musician Marshall Trammel aka Music Research Strategies. Marshall’s seriously socially engaged practice harnesses public engagement through philosophical, infrastructural and civic policy oriented ways that feel revolutionary to me. His sprawling practice is something I’ve been excited to contribute to, since we met years ago through Black Spirituals and played together in the Bay Area over a decade ago!

Later in the month is Elder Ones in Canada, so neighbors above our northern border take note!

I encourage everyone to continue to find ways to contribute to anti-fascist, anti-imperialist, community centered organizing in whatever way you can. It’s up to us to figure out how to harness our individual skills and knowledge to fight these inconceivable and continuous injustices. For me, that’s opening my mouth to yap and sing. Looking forward to seeing some of you out there!

If you haven’t already, check out the latest Outernational episode with Alsarah, speaking about her journey as a Sudanese refugee both personal and musical. We talk about the largest humanitarian, displacement and hunger crisis on earth and how the struggles of Sudan are interconnected with so many acute global injustices. All episodes are available, so check them out and tell your friends!

Solidarity,

Amirtha

Show Details:

Sat April 25 - Collaboration with Music Research Strategies (Marshall Trammel) for Waterworks Festival of Experimental Sound presented by Non-Event Series, Boston

Mon May 4 - Benefit for ICE Detainees @ Sisters, Bklyn 7:30pm doors, music at 8pm: Elder Ones (Alfredo Colon, Matt Nelson, Lester St. Louis, Jason Nazary), Alex Zhang Hungtai + Kwami Winfield, DoYeon Kim, DJ MPEACH

Thurs May 14 - Elder Ones @ FIMAV, Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada

Fri May 15 - Elder Ones @ CEM, Chicoutimi, Saguenay, Canada

Outernational Episode 7: Alsarah

Hello friends, family and comrades,

After a much needed tourcation in California, I’m hitting you with a new fresh episode of Outernational with a musician, researcher, producer and thinker Alsarah, bandleader of the East African retropop band The Nubatones. We had a deeply engaging conversation about her roots in East Africa and her identity as a refugee, one that she emphasizes will be the future normal. From Sudan to Yemen, to Boston and finally New York, her story is both inspiring and deeply relatable in her journey of personal and political discovery.

With the genocide still raging in the Sudan creating the largest humanitarian and displacement crisis on the planet, I was grateful to learn and hear from someone who has lived through the history that led to this moment.

This episode is filled with resources if you’re looking for ways to support, reminding us that all struggles are connected.

Enjoy this episode with Alsarah, recorded at Pioneer Works, engineered by me and produced by Z Park.

Solidarity,

Amirtha

Spring Shows and California Tour

Dear friends, family and comrades,

We’ve somehow made it through the first months of this year, as we head into the Spring. Some glimmers of hope and flowering, with the release of Leqaa Kordia from ICE detention, whose only “crime” was protesting the genocide in Gaza. As we enter another disastrous war, we see how people no longer fall for the lies of Iraq and see signs that the US empire is losing its cruel grip on the world. This is not without unleashing untold violence on the global population first and my heart is with the people of Cuba, Iran, Lebanon, Palestine and those the world over who we are terrorizing.

I’m entering this season with a trip to the West Coast, where I’ll perform some solo versions of Elder Ones compositions and improvisations on the theme of undoing empire. I’ll be in Oakland this weekend for a concert at The Crown, presented by Eternal Now and Working Name Studios, with a workshop for the community on Sunday.

After that, I’ll head to my former home of Los Angeles for a show at 2220 Arts + Archives supporting Ava Mendoza and Matana Roberts and for some teaching at USC and UC Irvine.

This year, I’ll take a proper Spring Break in Tunisia and return for a performance with Neti-Neti with Matt Evans on April 13th at Poetry Project in NYC.

Stay tuned for an episode of Outernational pod this month, with Sudanese American musician Alsarah! You can listen to the episode of Omar Ahmad interviewing me on the pod, and read an excerpt of it here for Pioneer Works Broadcast publication!

We had a fantastic benefit for ICE Detainees last week at Sisters and have another planned on 4/19, so keep an eye out. If you didn’t make it and would like to donate, you can find individual Go Fund Me campaigns and the Legal fund at Stand with South Brooklyn via Mixteca Org.

Hope to see you on one of these coasts! Details/tickets below.

Solidarity,

Amirtha

Details + Tickets

Saturday, March 21st @ 7pm doors/8pm show The Crown, Oakland: Solo and with Zekarias Thompson, Kevin Corcoran and Cheflee

Sunday, March 22nd @ 4pm Beauty Supply Arts, Oakland: Workshop and Jam (open to the community)

Wednesday, March 25th 2220 Arts + Archives, Los Angeles: Solo/Ava Mendoza/Matana Roberts

Friday, March 27th Workshop at University of Southern California

Monday, March 30th Classes at UC Irvine

Monday, April 13th at Poetry Project, NYC: Neti-Neti with Matt Evans and sinonó (isa crespo pardo, Lester St. Louis, Henry Fraser)

Outernational Episode 6: Flipped! Omar x Amirtha

Hi friends, family and comrades,

We’re back with a little bit of a snow delay! It’s funny how disruptive about 20 inches of ice falling from the sky can be to all kinds of timelines, material, digital and otherwise.

This episode is a bit of a special one, as we’re playing around with the format. In this one, my dear friend, Omar Ahmad interviews yours truly, your hostess with the mostess, in a flipped episode. For those of you who are just encountering me through the podcast, this one gives you some insight into who the heck I am, and my own music and practice is all about. We talk about my devotional, DIY and punk roots, my circuitous journey to where I am, and my focus as we navigate these apocalyptic times.

While you’re at it, you can check out the episode where I interview Omar. You’ll see that these two chatterboxes can gab profundities for hours on end, so there’s plenty to chew on here.

At this moment, you can listen to all archived episodes, but starting March 2nd you’ll only have access to the last few archived episodes, so check out the episodes with Greg Saunier of Deerhoof and Angel Bat Dawid while you still can!

This podcast is self-funded, so I’m starting introduce some incentives for your material support. The podcast started with a generous fellowship from Pioneer Works in 2025, but as we move into 2026 I am trying to find ways to make this sustainable. In addition to paying my amazing producer Z, this labor of love takes a huge amount of time and work to keep going. You can check out the perks below and decide if this is something you can do at this time!

February is the last chance to listen to all Outernational episodes for free! Starting in March, readers with any paid subscription ($5/monthly or $50/annually) can listen to / access all archived Outernational episodes. Paid subscribers can also access bonus content, including the full improvisation at Le Guess Who? from Episode 5, as well as future discounts on Elder Ones LPs and shirts. All paid subscriptions directly help the Outernational podcast to keep going!

Free subscribers will continue receiving the monthly newsletter and will be able to listen back to the 3 most recent episodes of the Outernational podcast, but will not be able to comment or post and will not receive discounts for Elder Ones merchandise.

Solidarity, all power to the people.

Amirtha

Benefit Concert for Detainees, Elder Ones at Le Guess Who?, Upcoming Shows and Outernational

Hello friends, family and comrades,

It’s been a long, hard winter and tumultuous start to 2026. With all of it’s horrors and challenges, I am fortified with how people have been collectively responding in support of one another in their communities. The greater the repression and oppression, the stronger the response of solidarity.

From neighbors in Minnesota protecting each other, to people’s flotillas being sent to Cuba and Gaza, protestors in Milan showing solidarity against ICE at the Olympics and with Palestinians, labor strikes by dock workers in the EU, and unbelievable artistic creation coming from Iran in the face of extreme repression (if you haven’t seen Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, you MUST), while people demonstrate against the regime AND against US/Israeli imperialist intervention. With so much going on, it seems the collective engagement and the ability for us to connect the dots across borders, as a mass community of global humanity is growing.

The same goes for NYC as we see a rise in ICE presence throughout the 5 boroughs. My dear comrade Laura Cocks and I are organizing a fundraiser to benefit neighbors in Sunset Park and South Brooklyn, who have been impacted by ICE detention, this Sunday 2/22 at Sister’s in Brooklyn with Chris Williams solo, a trio set with me, Ka Baird and a very special guest on cello, and the magical Cleo Reed, with DJ Haram in the booth and resource sharing around community defense throughout the evening!

We are fundraising for the very important South Brooklyn org Mixteca, and will also be promoting several Go Fund Me individual initiatives for our neighbors. Links at the end of this newsletter if you can’t attend, but want to donate. In March, I’ll be at People’s Forum to raise funds for Middle East Children’s Alliance in a solo set feat. Alfredo Colon.

In other news, I’ll be on tour a bit coming up, with dates in Massachusetts/NYC and California, with Neti-Neti (duo with Matt Evans) and solo/with collaborators in Oakland and Los Angeles (Matana Roberts, Ava Mendoza and others TBD).

Stay tuned next week for a special flipped episode of Outernational podcast, where I’m in the hot seat with Omar Ahmad interviewing me! We also have some nice incentives for paid subscribers, so I ask you to humbly consider supporting the podcast if you have the means!

Details and dates down below (prayer emoji).

Solidarity,

Amirtha

DONATE to Mixteca

Individual Go Fund Me Campaigns for Sunset Park Neighbors

Support Cristian’s Legal and Basic Needs

Help Me Bring My Husband Jose Home

Help Osvaldo Get Legal Help and Support His Son

Support for a family separated by ICE

Upcoming Shows

East Coast

Sunday, February 22nd at Sisters, Brooklyn: Trio with Ka Baird + special guest, Chris Williams solo and Cleo Reed, Benefit for our neighbors in Sunset Park via Mixteca and resource share

Thursday and Friday, March 5th and 6th at U Mass Amherst: Neti-Neti with Matt Evans, workshop and concert

Thursday, March 12th at People’s Forum, NYC: Palestinian Youth Movement Benefit for Middle East Children’s Alliance, Solo with guest Alfredo Colon

Monday, April 13th at Poetry Project, NYC: Neti-Neti with Matt Evans and sinonó (isa crespo Pardo, Lester St. Louis, Henry Fraser)

California

Saturday, March 21st at Working Name Studios, Oakland: Workshop and Concert

Wednesday, March 25th at 2220 Arts + Archives, Los Angeles: Matana Roberts, Ava Mendoza + TBD

Friday, March 27th at USC: Composer’s Forum Workshop

Monday, March 30th at UC Irvine: Workshops and Class Visits

Canada

May 14th at FIMAV, Victoriaville Quebec: Elder Ones (Alfredo Colon, Matt Nelson, Lester St. Louis, Jason Nazary)

May 15th at CEM, Chicoutimi, Saguenay: Elder Ones (Alfredo Colon, Matt Nelson, Lester St. Louis, Jason Nazary)

Special Live Edition of Outernational at Le Guess Who? Festival

Listen, Like, Follow, Subscribe and Review on Substack / Apple Podcasts /YouTube

Credits: Recorded Live at Le Guess Who? festival on November 8th, 2025 in Utrecht, Netherlands, produced by Z Park with a musical performance by the panelists and guest, Mohammad Mehrabani

Hello friends, family and comrades,

It’s 2026, the Sun is in Aquarius, and the people of the world are demanding revolution. It’s been an a rocky year to say the least, but there are hopeful signs of collective solidarity and people connecting the dots around the world. From ICE terrorizing the people of Minneapolis, to the IOF in Gaza and the West Bank, or neo-Colonial Imperialist fantasies coming to life of seizing land and resources in Latin America, the Middle East and Greenland, we are starting to understand how global capital strangles working people on every corner of this planet. These interconnected threats require international solidarity between oppressed people around the world, and we plant seeds by sharing stories, songs, strategies and struggle, in any way possible (don’t forget to participate in the general strike on Friday Jan 30, if you reside on Turtle Island/occupied US).

This was the premise of the Outernational podcast, and January’s special Live Edition is proof of concept. Featuring legendary poet/musician Saul Williams, Sonic Liberation Front founder, Dirar Kalash from Palestine and South African musicians Masello Motana and Asher Gamedze, we had a kaleidoscopic conversation across borders, histories and struggles, using Le Guess Who? festival as a community gathering. As Saul said during his set earlier that evening, every concert is a meeting. Music transcends borders and musicians know how to organize.

Listening to this conversation again gave me much needed inspiration to persist among escalating terrors in the United States and around the world. Each of these artists is a deep thinker and organizer in their community, using their platforms in ingenious, creative and subversive trickster ways. The conversation is bursting with wisdom, from historical lessons to deeply embodied cultural memory. After our discussion, we flowed directly into and improvised performance, joined by my dear Iranian-Canadian friend Mohammad Mehrabani aka Saint Abdullah. After tuning ourselves in dialogue, we tuned vibrationally, digesting our thoughts and allowing them to take sonic form.

I am so excited for people to hear this conversation in the form of our fifth episode of Outernational. More to come in 2026.

Solidarity forever,

Amirtha

NYC Winter Jazzfest with Elder Ones and Panel

Hello friends, fam and comrades,

Happy New Year (in the Gregorian calendar, though we still have another month of the year of the snake)!

We’re off to a roller coaster start, though there have been some moments of light. I at least peripherally attended the inauguration of NYC’s first Socialist, South Asian, Ugandan, Muslim mayor. We were amongst massive, diverse crowds, hailing not only from the five boroughs but all over the world. I felt more than just symbolic pride and hope seeing the representation not only of my identity, but also someone who aligns with my foundational values. We shall see how he governs and continue to hold him accountable to his promises, and commitments the constituencies who got him elected. Politics is obviously a limited sphere for change, but can be a bellwether and help bolster engagement for people who are new to organizing.

Buy a Dada Strain limited edition “Turn the Volume Up” T-shirt inspired by NYC’s Mayor, with proceeds going to local food-accessibility, trans culture and youth music organizations.

I’m still reeling from flashbacks to the early 2000s, watching the shock-and-awe campaigns that got us into a nearly decade long war that resulted in the deaths of over a million Iraqis, spent more than $2.9 trillion dollars for the benefit of oil barons, defense contractors, arms dealers, and mercenary private security firms. As we stand to enter into more American imperial conquests, I wonder what, if any lessons we have learned. In 2026, I’m thinking of writing more extensive posts on the state of affairs, as things accelerate at a hectic pace globally — to process for myself, but also share a perspective that might be useful to others.

You can also look forward to a special live edition of my Outernational podcast from a panel discussion at Le Guess Who? festival in the Netherlands with the legendary poet/musician Saul Williams, South African musicians Masello Motana and Asher Gamedze, and Palestinian musician and Sonic Liberation Front founder Dirar Kalash. I listened back to it yesterday and it left me feeling inspired and hopeful which is desperately needed right now.

The first gig of the year is going to be a potent one, with Elder Ones and a very special guest, Nick Dunston on bass at NYC Winter Jazzfest. Nick was an Elder One from 2017-2020, but forever in our hearts. You can hear him on our second album From Untruth (2019), buy it on Bandcamp or stream it on Qobuz (there’s a 30-day free trial for new users and they pay 4x what other streamers do to artists). The gig is part of Dada Strain’s showcase featuring the excellent line-up of Joy Guidry, Bex Burch and Xenia Rubinos. If you don’t know about Dada Strain’s essential writing on music and community, subscribe to the Dada Strain Substack! We’ll be playing the material we recorded in December for our next album and we’ll have copies of our new double-LP Elder Ones New Monuments, Live in Vilnius. If you can’t make it to Winter Jazzfest, you can order it here on Bandcamp or if you are in the U.S. and want to avoid expense shipping, order directly from me.

In other news, I was awarded the Princeton Hodder Fellowship for the 2026-2027 academic year. I'll be researching the connection between labor movements and anti-fascist/anti-colonial struggles, looking for roadmaps for how to resist in this time, and creating new music for the struggle.

Hope to see you at a gig, an organizing meeting a demonstration, a comedy show, a dance party or in a park sometime in 2026.

Here’s to shedding our old skin and creating new ways forward.

Here’s me and socialist comedian Fareeha Khan near the inauguration. Gonna tell our kids we could feel Zohran’s spit in our eyes.

Solidarity,

Amirtha

December with Elder Ones, MoMA screenings and a live Outernational pod

Follow the new @outernationalpod account on IG! Listen to the latest episode with Omar Ahmad, and check out the ones you missed!

Upcoming in NYC:

December 8th @ MoMA - An Evening with director Suneil Sanzgiri, double feature of An Impossible Address/Two Refusals, which I had the honor of scoring

December 14th @ Pioneer Works - Press Play fair, Outernational pod live with Samora Pinderhughes and tabling for Palestine Handmade

December 16th @ Pioneer Works - False Harmonics: Elder Ones, Omar Ahmad, Sinono

January 10th @ Winter Jazzfest - Dada Strain showcase with Elder Ones + special guest Nick Dunston

Please donate:

Give Warmth to Gaza (Sameer Project)

Support Dar Jacir Arts Center in the West Bank

Sudan Humanitarian Foundation Go Fund Me

Elder Ones Photo by Juri Hiensch at Le Guess Who? Festival: Left to right, Jason Nazary, Matt Nelson, Amirtha Kidambi, Lester St. Louis, Alfredo Colon

Hello dear comrades,

It’s hard to believe we’ve reached the end of 2025, what feels like a never ending year of nightmarish struggle. As we head into 2026 with a looming war in Latin America and urban warfare at home, I’m heartened to see how neighbors stand-up for each other in the streets and some glimmers of hope in how electoral wins on the left show the power of grassroots organizing and the shifting tide of everyday people’s consciousness.

As a musician, I’ve spent my year thinking about our role in these times of upheaval and how we can support movements, help develop people’s consciousness and the ways we can challenge our own material complicity in these violent systems. I’ve been focused on my work on these fronts with my 10-year-old and counting band Elder Ones, my new Outernational podcast and continuing to activate in our artist community.

Elder Ones is no longer on Spotify, and I want to make the case for you to get off too! Daniel Ek invested $700 million in profits that he made on the backs of musicians he didn’t pay (Spotify pays less than .004 cents per stream, but it’s not monetized until you get to 10k), into military AI tech that will undoubtedly be used to kill civilians. Resources and alternatives can be found here.

I spent the year writing and recording Elder Ones latest album during my fellowship at Pioneer Works and we head into the studio next week. We also just released a new live double-LP on November 14th, recorded in Vilnius in October 2024 and you can buy the physical copies on Bandcamp (CD/digital available). If you need convincing, read some stellar reviews of the record on Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp, a great one from The Quietus “this group can f*cking cook” and another from Wire Magazine.

In October, we went back to Europe where I was a guest curator for Le Guess Who? playing with Elder Ones and doing a live edition of the Outernational podcast with the legendary poet Saul Williams, South African musicians Masello Motana and Asher Gamedze and our dear friend from Palestine Dirar Kalash. I’ll be releasing that as an Outernational episode soon, so stay tuned. Here’s a great live review by Nate Chinen of our Berlin Jazzfest performance on that tour, that talks about the urgency of the message in our set.

December has some chills and thrills coming up, with Elder Ones performing the full new set at Pioneer Works to close out my fellowship on December 16th, in an amazing bill with our dear friends Palestinian-American electronic composer/sound artist Omar Ahmad and Sinono (isa crespo pardo, Lester St. Louis, Henry Fraser). On the 14th I’ll be doing another live Outernational pod for the Press Play fair at Pioneer Works, interviewing Samora Pinderhughes on his work with incarcerated communities. Coming up soon on December 8th, MoMA will have a double feature of films directed by my longtime collaborator Suneil Sanzgiri, and it will be my first time hearing the scores I composed in a proper theatrical setting!

As we get ready to get cozy, hibernate and indulge in holiday excess, I want to boost some important fundraisers for Gaza and Sudan (see above). Gaza is flooded as they experience continuous bombardment and the genocide in Sudan has reached new heights of depravity. I hope this season you boycott Target, Amazon and others as you do your shopping and support independent artisans, small businesses and Palestine fairs. On December 14th at Press Play, Suneil and I will also be tabling at the fair for Palestine Handmade where you can buy beautiful keffiyeh, handmade olive wood crafts, Tatreez embroidery and more!

Wishing you and yours a safe and liberated season.

Solidarity,

Amirtha

Outernational Episode 4: Omar Ahmad

Hello fam,

We’re back with another episode of Outernational, the only podcast on music and revolution (don’t fact check me)!

In this installment, I chat with Palestinian American Composer, Sound Artist, Producer and Electronic Musician Omar Ahmad. We had a sprawling conversation that probably could have lasted several hours, discussing the complexities of being Palestinian in diaspora, being a skater kid in Bay Ridge, how it has been to make art during a genocide of your own people and some hopeful/helpful advice on what each of us might contribute in these maddening times.

It’s a bit surreal to listen back to this one which we recorded over the summer, now in this “ceasefire” period when things feel unbelievably dark and in some ways, worse that there is a veneer of a new status quo. Listening to this convo again gave me hope, but more importantly some much needed perspective and I hope it can do the same for you!

You can listen, subscribe, follow, like and share on Substack, Apple Podcasts and YouTube!

Solidarity!

Amirtha

Outernational Episode 3: Ian Lynch

In this episode, I had a great chat with Ian Lynch of the absolute class Irish bands Lankum and One Leg One Eye. We talked about the the anarcho-punk scene in Dublin where he came up, the politics of the Irish language and traditional music, anti-colonial solidarity and resonances across the histories of Ireland, India and Palestine, and the experience of touring over last two years while speaking out against the genocide, facing repression, cancellations and awkward vibes with audiences.

This episode was edited by Z Park, engineered by me and recorded remotely from Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, featuring the music of Lankum and One Leg One Eye.

You can listen on Substack, Apple Music and YouTube.

Elder Ones 10/18 in Brooklyn & EU Tour, New Outernational Pod Episode

Hello friends and global fam,

I hope you’ve got support and grounding in the ever increasing chaos of our times. The intersecting crises with immigrants in the U.S., people in Gaza and the West Bank, the Sudan or the Caribbean are escalating, contrary to what the gestures of “peace deals” and the absolute farce of a Nobel Peace prize try to message, they are just the Western and oligarchic order manufacturing consent for modern day colonization and war. I hope that as a global population we have learned from the last two years of overt genocide and the last 50 + of coups and puppet regimes from the Middle East to Africa and Latin America and that we are becoming more aware everyday. I believe that once people are awake, you really cannot put them back to sleep.

Towards that end (I swear this is not a hard pivot), Elder Ones is about to go on tour, with a show tomorrow Saturday 10/18 at National Sawdust opening for our comrades Ava Luna and the EU later this month. The new set builds upon our last one, trying to connect the dots between issues of capitalism and imperialism across the globe. As we see the oligarchs and ruling class operating on a global scale, we should recognize the resistance to power needs to be global as well. I consider “stage banter” to be fully part of the performance practice of this band, to find ways connect people and ideas through our small but potent global platform. The tour includes my curation at Le Guess Who? which highlights MENA/SWANA artists and those who stand in solidarity, with Ghadr (Beirut), Dirar Kalash (Palestine), Saint Abdullah & Jason Nazary and One Leg One Eye (Ireland). We will also have a panel conversation and live session with Saul Williams, Dirar and Masello Motana, another way of extending this global solidarity work through music.

ELDER ONES TOUR DETAILS

OCT 18 _ National Sawdust, Brooklyn, NY w/ Ava Luna

OCT 31 _ Jazzfest Berlin, DE

NOV 3 _ Nasjonal Jazzscene, Oslo, NO

NOV 4 _ Alice, Copenhagen, DK

NOV 6 _ Fasching, Stockholm, SE

NOV 7 _ Le Guess Who?, Utrecht, NL (Elder Ones concert)

NOV 8 _ Le Guess Who?, Utrecht, NL (Outernational - workshop, improv and panel session with Saul Williams, Dirar Kalash and Masello Motana)

NOV 9 _ Sound in Motion, Antwerp, BE

OUTERNATIONAL POD EPISODE 3: IAN LYNCH OF LANKUM

I’m also excited to announce that Ian Lynch of my favorite Irish band Lankum and One Leg One Eye is the next guest for the Outernational pod, releasing next week! After two years on the road during the genocide, Lankum was one of the only bands I shared festival bills with that I saw consistently speaking out in solidarity with Palestinians. We talk about our experiences with censorship and cancellations and also our anti-colonial solidarities as people who who colonized by the British, and how that history informs solidarity work today. Check it out on the Outernational tab of my Substack, on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

ELDER ONES NEW MONUMENTS LIVE IN VILNIUS DOUBLE LP

And lastly, I’m excited to announce a new live DOUBLE LP of Elder Ones New Monuments from the Vilnius Jazz Festival in 2024, on Fern Flower Records. This album is a document of our time on the road during the global uprising for Palestinian liberation, with an incredible color booklet of liner notes and photos talking about our time on the road, with several tours across the US, EU and Latin America. It’s not just an amazing archival document, but an absolutely incredible and insane performance by the band Alfredo Colon, Matt Nelson, Lester St. Louis and Jason Nazary. You can pre-order it here!

Hope to see you at one of these shows or activations so we can have these conversations in person, building community in the face of all this chaos.

Solidarity,

Amirtha

Neti-Neti Bandcamp Friday/Release Shows, Ep.2 with Greg of Deerhoof

Hello friends + fam,

It’s hard to know how to continue our daily tasks as the military descends on Chicago with ever increasing violence on immigrants and American citizens, the illegal detention of humanitarian activists of the Flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza after two years of genocide, and endless hate, fear-mongering and the disintegration of our civil and human rights at home and abroad. It’s our responsibility to figure out how we can each contribute to the broader movement for justice and collective liberation by thinking about our unique skills, the communities we’re part of and the resources we can leverage.

My duo Neti-Neti with percussionist Matt Evans is releasing our debut LP on Dinzu Artefacts (pre-order here). As the wonderful Various Small Flames (UK) writes, “Kidambi and Evans tapping,” as we put it, “into both individual grief, collective trauma and well-worn traditions to charge the process with a sense of momentum and fluency.” This work has always felt personal and important to us, but feels imbued with an urgency now for creating moments of catharsis in community with each other. If you buy it today on Bandcamp Friday, we’ll donate our proceeds to the Immigrant Defense Project.

We also have a min-tour kicking off this weekend in Philadelphia and Washington DC (details below) and a release show October 11th in NYC presented by Dada Strain with Chris Williams and Gladstone.

That same afternoon I’ll be discussing my activist work in a panel discussion for the Triple Canopy symposium on the Culture Front, organizing on the Left.

In that vein, my nascent Outernational podcast on music and activism launched over the summer and Episode 2 with Greg Saunier of Deerhoof is out now. We discuss the complicity of musicians in the global imperialist/capitalist war machine and what we can do about it. You may have noticed a mass exodus led by Deerhoof from Spotify, lately and I encourage you to get off if you can as a listener and an artist! Stay tuned for Episode 3 of Outernational podcast with the great Ian Lynch of Lankum/One Leg One Eye

Listen, subscribe, like, follow, review and share on Substack @amirthakidambi / Apple Podcasts / YouTube

And finally, good news if you’re an Elder Ones fan and want to hear our new set, you get one more chance to hear it in NYC at National Sawdust on October 18th before we head to the EU!

Show details below!

Solidarity,

Amirtha

Fall Shows

October 4th - 7:30pm Neti-Neti with Strider (Joanna Mattrey, Steven Long) at Studio 34, Philadelphia

October 6th - Neti-Neti at with Max Hamel, Francis/Hughes/Garrett/Scheibel for Outside Time series at Rhizome, Washington DC

October 11th - 3:30pm panel on the Culture Front, organizing on the Left for the Triple Canopy Symposium at Roulette, Brooklyn

October 11th - 7pm Neti-Neti and Chris Williams, Gladstone Record Release Show at Light and Sound Design presented by Dada Strain RSVP for location

October 12th - Luke Stewart B-Day Celebration at InGardens, presented by Arts of Art

October 18th - 7:30pm Elder Ones opening for Ava Luna at National Sawdust

October 31st-November 9th - Elder Ones EU Tour at Le Guess Who? Berlin Jazz Festival and more

Outernational Episode 2: Greg Saunier

Hey friends and fam,

Hope you are safe and supported in these extreme times. I’m thinking of all our transgender kin, people of color and immigrants under attack from the U.S. to the U.K. (where there have been extreme right wing riots and violence), the siege in Gaza City of which I have no more words left to describe, and all marginalized and oppressed people from Sudan, the Congo, Indonesia and beyond.

As all these struggles are intertwined, I feel it’s incredibly important to be sharing strategies and comparing notes on how to fight for justice together, across geography and identities, which one of the reasons I started the Outernational podcast. Outernational is a new podcast where I talk to musicians who are activists/organizers, using their platforms for change and making music that is socially engaged in these revolutionary times. It’s the third Monday of the month, so that means you get a new episode. If you haven’t checked out Episode 1 with Angel Bat Dawid or the uncut video, don’t sleep on it!

In the latest installment, I sat down in-studio at Pioneer Works with Greg Saunier, drummer and founder of legendary indie band Deerhoof. We talk about Deerhoof’s early history in San Francisco before the Bay Area tech boom and the band's recent decision to leave Spotify, leading a mass exodus away from the platform, which is entangled with military AI tech. Importantly, we discuss late stage capitalism, imperialism and fascism, our role and complicity as musicians, and what we can do about it.

We happened to record this on the same day that Deerhoof announced they were ditching Spotify!

Subscribe, like, follow, review and share on Substack @amirthakidambi / Apple Podcasts / YouTube

Credits: Hosted by Amirtha Kidambi, Edited by Z Park, Music by Deerhoof “Immigrant Songs”, Recorded at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn

In related news, I’m removing the entire Elder Ones catalogue from Spotify, which will take a moment to coordinate with distributers and our labels but is in the works. You can find us here on Bandcamp. Not to brag, but I haven’t personally used Spotify since 2018 and as a listener you can use various services to transfer your playlists to other platforms. When people ask about alternatives, I usually say Bandcamp for newer and independent music/buying physical copies from artists or transferring over to literally anything else. It’s important to do this while there is mass movement away from the platform. I could explain all the reasons why, but I think Greg does that even more eloquently in our conversation!

Also, we are geo-blocking Israel from distribution as part of the #nomusicforgenocide call (find out more at the link about how to participate). Thanks to our labels We Jazz and Northern Spy for being so immediately down with this decision! This is part of the broader Palestinian led Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement, one of the material demands of the people experiencing this horrific genocide, which threatens to move on to the West Bank next.

If you want to support families in the refugee camps, you can click this link for Palestine Handmade to beautiful crafts, tatreez embroidery, keffiyeh, olive oil soap and olive wood carved crafts to order. The money goes directly back to families.

If you live on the East Coast, we’re celebrating the record release of Neti-Neti, my voice, percussion and electronics duo with Matt Evans and the premiere of more new music by Elder Ones before we head out on tour in Europe for Le Guess Who?, Berlin Jazzfest and more.

October/November Shows

October 4th - 7:30pm Neti-Neti with Strider (Joanna Mattrey, Steven Long) at Studio 34, Philadelphia

October 6th - Neti-Neti at with Max Hamel, Francis/Hughes/Garrett/Scheibel for Outside Time series at Rhizome, Washington DC

October 11th - 3:30pm panel on the Culture Front, organizing on the Left for the Triple Canopy Symposium at Roulette, Brooklyn

7pm Neti-Neti and Chris Williams Dual Record Release Show at Light and Sound Design presented by Dada Strain

October 18th - 7:30pm Elder Ones opening for Ava Luna at National Sawdust

October 31st-November 9th - Elder Ones EU Tour

Solidarity!

Amirtha

September, Angel Unedited, CDMX, Palestine Fundraiser

Hello friends and comrades,

September is a bit of the calm before the storm as I get back into the fall semester, but there are a couple of highlights, including a panel discussion/performance on the intersection of class, race and art in the Asian diaspora community at the Asian American Arts Alliance with Che Chen, Leo Chang, Ravish Momin and Council Member Shahana Hanif Wednesday, September 3rd and a very special duo with the master musician Cooper Moore at InGardens presented by Arts for Art on September 20th (FREE)!

August saw the release of Episode 1 of my new podcast Outernational, which explores how to build solidarity in our intersecting global struggles, understanding how our fates are intertwined. You can check out the first episode with Angel Bat Dawid on her education work with Black youth in Chicago and her unfiltered calls to action from the stage here on Substack, on Apple Podcasts or YouTube. You can also find the full, raw and unedited version of the episode here on YouTube. Don’t forget to like, follow, subscribe and review on all platforms and stay tuned for Episode 2 later this month with Greg Saunier of Deerhoof!

On that same theme, I just got back from an incredibly inspiring and much needed trip in Mexico. I don’t think I even realized how heavy the weight has been of living in America over these last several months, in the heart of the imperial core which is wrecking havoc internally and externally on the most vulnerable people. I played two improvised concerts in CDMX with phenomenal musicians. The first at Venas Rotas, a fantastic record store in Roma Norte with the vocal wizard Rodrigo Ambriz and power string section of Aleida Perez and Alex Motta, with a second night at the legendary free improv venue Jazzorca, a 33 year old labor of love run by musician and elder German Bringas. German invited me to arrange us into various combinations with my favorite new noise duo Corpres + Colpit (Carles Medina and Joan Torne Palau) from Barcelona and mi amiga, No Land, a surprise guest poet visiting from NYC.

Before the set, I spoke about the absurdity of the relations between our countries — the situation for Mexican and Latin American immigrants in the United States, the forever imperialist and anti-Democratic plunder and meddling in their affairs and now the hopefully empty threat of sending troops to combat “terrorist” cartels. All the while, it’s unclear which Latin and Central America leaders will stand up and who will take the neoliberal route of capitulation (looking at you Claudia). At this time, it’s more important than ever to build solidarity across the border, outside of our governments and among the people. Improvisation is a tool and a small gesture towards strengthening our communities beyond nation-state formations.

Last but not at all least, I want to highlight a fundraiser for Pal Handmade happening as a pop-up shop at Figure 8 studios in Brooklyn, September 4-7. Our friend has brought crafts, tatreez and keffiyeh from the West Bank, which is in the process of illegal annexation, making it harder for people and goods to go in and out. He went through great lengths to get here and doesn’t know if he will even be able to go back. He shared with me that there is barely any food available in the markets even in the West Bank, with bags of flour (if you can find them) which cost as much as $70 USD. All money from this fundraiser will go directly to the families in the West Bank in the refugee camps where these crafts were made.

If you can’t be there in person, you can see the crafts, prices and payment here and they can be shipped directly to you.

Solidarity and love,

Amirtha

Outernational Episode 1: Angel Bat Dawid

Hello friends, fam and comrades!

Episode 1 of the Outernational podcast is live! I had an incredible conversation with Angel Bat Dawid about her work as an outspoken musician and educator, working to uplift Black youth on the South and West Side of Chicago. Angel is a composer, improviser, clarinetist, pianist/synthesist, vocalist, DJ and bandleader of Angel Dawid and Tha Brotherhood, Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty and has worked with Damon Lock’s Black Monument Ensemble among many other projects.

We talked about how there is no growth without discomfort and sometimes Angel is gonna make you squirm!

Outernational is a new podcast where I talk to musicians who are activists/organizers, using their platforms for change and making music that is socially engaged in these revolutionary times.

Listen on Substack @amirthakidambi /Apple Podcasts/YouTube

Credits: Hosted by Amirtha Kidambi, Recorded at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, Edited by Z Park, Music by Angel Bat Dawid “The Black Family”